Rhebpi: The Angel
by 16Doobop13
Summary: Incorporating Time Travel themes and the Doctor's great personality from Doctor Who, and the idea of a single Angel and Deity fighting for justice from kid Icarus, as well as a few characters from each respective universe dotted around the story, follow the adventures of Time-Space Angel, Rhebpi as he saves/protects the world from gods, demons, and of course, the world itself!
1. 0

The Angel

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Once upon a time…wait no…that's not right. This is the story…no, that's also a bad beginning. This is the tale…well, actually, no…_These are_ the tales of the same man…well, not a man really…more godlike than a man….Ok…these are the tales of an Angel. To paint a picture of him in your head, he is around 5'8 with large white wings that can retract and expand to and from his back on his demand. He has nice blonde hair upon his pale-ish skin. His complexion gives off the vibe that he could be 17, but on the other hand he could be 22. In reality however, he is hundreds of millennia old. On his back he carries a quiver full of arrows. These arrows are divided into two halves, one half is for combat, and the other arrows are for special modes of travel, as this Angel isn't restricted by the physics of space and time. In his left hand, he carries his spike-covered bow, which he can shrink and turn into a throwing star, which can fit in his pocket. He has a triangular shield strapped to his right arm. The shield isn't very big. It's about the size of a regular backpack. Inscribed in the triangular shield is a circular mirror, divided into thirds, one third for each corner of the shield. This shield is a mystical item that can show events that happened in the past, present, and possible future events.

This Angel is not a regular angel like the ones most of you are used to. First off, this Angel is described as a proper noun even without his name, unlike other angels. Second: He is not the "by the books" type of Angel and as such has very few allies…In fact I'm the only ally he truly has. I'm a god, but probably not a god any of you have ever heard of. My name is Crodia. I'm a god who was originally charged with the task of making sure time and space never were interfered with. I originally did whatever I could to protect the balance, until I realized that a few gods had already preset a certain route for timed events to take so as to make themselves more powerful and control the universe. I pleaded to all the beings of the heavens for help, and I managed to attract the attention of the Angels. Not the goody two shoes angels, but combat Angels (don't get it wrong though, they still have a strict moral code that they can never break). We managed to subdue these gods and while most of the Angels guard these gods with their upmost security, I have taken one of them as my apprentice. I've made him the sort of captain of my Time army…although he's the only member barring myself. He lives with me in the Heavens and we are constantly fixing different points in time so as to get the best possible outcome for the planet Earth, the only planet that repeatedly gets itself in trouble over and over and over again.

Whenever I need to, I send this Angel, who I've labeled Rhebpi (I labeled him that, don't know how to pronounce it…so I just call him R for short when I want to call him by name) through a time-space machine I call the Deporter. It instantly transports whatever is inside it to a particular point in space and time. Since it exists outside of space and time, and since space-time is a rather hard area to leave from, Rhebpi carries with him a Returner that will transport him back to the Heavens when he is done with his current mission on earth. Anyways, these are the tales of his adventures. I don't intend to narrate anymore, but I feel this introduction was needed. So sit back, human, and enjoy the countless stories of Rhebpi: The Angel!


	2. 1-1

The Angel

1.1

**Earth, Dec 31, 1999, NYC, NY, USA 10:00 pm EST**

As the building all around Times Square lit up with special lights for the ball drop into Y2K, there were significantly fewer people out in the street to celebrate than in past years. This was all due to the rumors of the coming appocolypse. The media was eating it up, and using it as a publicity stunt for all the big businesses. "The last day on Earth before technology goes broke! This could be your last chance to buy at half price!" The marketing attempts were working very well, perhaps a bit too well.

Over in the Mayflower hotel, a 16 year old hipster sat alone on his bed in his suite, holding his phone in his hand. His girlfriend had broken up with him a few hours ago because she wanted to spend her 'last hours' on earth with another boy, with whom she had been cheating on him.

"You're such an idiot, Mike…" He said to himself. "You're such a goddamn idiot…" He got off his bed and threw his phone at the wall, causing it to freeze. He picked it up, and realized he still had a picture of his girlfriend and him as his background photo. He just noticed now though, that his girlfriend was looking out of the corner of her eye at him with a bit of disgust. She had never really liked him…just felt desperate…maybe wanted to make her current boyfriend jealous. The pain of the thoughts was too much to bear. Mike threw out the phone in a nearby trash can. Now that mike was single, he had no one. His father was always so busy, his stepmother didn't like him, and his mother died of lung cancer a few years ago due to her smoking addiction. Mike's ex-girlfriend was his only friend, and now she had left him for someone else.

Mike walked up to the window. He was on the 20th story. If he jumped, all his problems would be over. No one would care about his death. Well, maybe his father, but his father was a very busy CEO and the holiday season was a huge time for him, he wouldn't grieve about Mike's death for very long. "It would just be so easy…" Mike whispered to himself. "All the pain would be gone…you'd be in heaven too. You'd get to see your mother again Mike…" He seemed to have decided what he should do. He looked around to make sure no one was really watching, and opened his bedroom window.

"I'd close that window now, if I were you." A rather deep voice said from a dark corner of the room. Mike turned around in shock, and walked toward the corner.

"Wh-Who- Who's there?" Mike asked. The corner chuckled, and into the light stepped a boyish looking man around Mike's size.

"I'm R- Rhe…" The man took out a piece of paper and wrote the word Rhebpi on it. "If you can pronounce my name, I'll have to insist you teach me how." He said. Mike just stood there in awe. He couldn't get over the giant, eagle like wings sprouting out this guy's back. Rhebpi looked at his wings and then back at Mike. "Oh, I'm an Angel. Probably should've mentioned that." And with that comment, Mike fainted.

Mike awoke an hour later in his bed. Was it all a dream? "Not a dream." He heard Rhebpi say, and noticed Rhebpi sitting on the window ledge.

"What are you doing here?" Mike asked. "You don't know me, and I don't know you. I have no friends…and the world is going to end in an hour! Can you please just leave me alone?"

"I'm afraid I can't do that, Mike." Rhebpi said, looking at the sky. "What a beautiful view. It's not often you can see such a beautiful view of the night sky in the city."

"Why can't you leave?" Mike asked confused.

"Oh," Rhebpi said, turning his head from the sky. "because you'll try to kill yourself." He said to Mike quite matter-of-factly.

"Well that's sort of the point…" Mike said annoyed.

"It certainly is!" Rhebpi agreed.

"Please, sir, just go. I'm never going to change my mind about this, so unless you plan to stay with me for the rest of my life, I suggest you leave and let me go."

"I'm afraid you leave me no choice Mike." Rhebpi said with a sigh as he took an arrow out of his quiver and aimed it at the wall.

"W-What's shooting the wall going to-" Before Mike could finish the sentence, he was staring at a giant black hole in the wall. "H-How?"

"Oh, it's going to take us somewhere special, and I'm going to help you change your mind. You can't kill yourself Mike. I promise you that I'll make you realize that before Y2K."

"Oh I get it." Mike said. "Why kill oneself when the world will do it for you in an hour, right?"

"Ugh.." Rhebpi groaned as he grabbed Mike by the collar of his shirt. "Just come with me!" He said as he pulled Mike through the hole in the wall. Almost instantaneously, they were back in Mike's regular house, back in the suberbs.

"What are we doing here?" Mike asked.

"This is your house, two years ago today." Rhebpi said, looking around. "You and your family are all out in Time's Square, celebrating the New Year." Rhebpi walked over to the nightstand near the living room couch and picked up a book. "I'm willing to bet that you're father never told you what he writes in this book."

"It's company stuff." Mike said, surely.

"Ah yes…" Rhebpi opened the book. "That's called lying. It's something humans happen to do from time to time."

"Well, what is that book for then?" Mike asked curiously.

"This is a journal. Should I read an entry?" Mike was about to protest when Rhebpi began to read anyway. "December 31 1997." He looked up at Mike. "Why-that's today!" He winked. He turned back to the book and continued to read. "Today marks the end of another very successful year. The company made plenty of money, and I've already taken care of all my taxes, but what really makes this year great is how understanding, and how outstanding, my loving son Mike has been. Due to all the workers wanting larger profits around this time, we normally don't have enough money to go out and do anything, but tonight we're going to finally start our tradition of going out to Time's Square to watch the ball drop! Oh how I wish I could spend more time with my amazing and perfect son. Especially since his Mother has passed. I'm going to make an honest effort to be as free as possible for these next few years until he goes off to college. He's a smart kid too! I bet he could be a doctor or a lawyer if he applied himself, but no, he just loves writing. I've been able to read a few of the things he's written! He could be the next J.K. Rowling, I swear! I love my son and I wish him the best in these coming years. I know it'll be tough for him, but I'm positive he'll be able to survive the storm, so to speak. Love you, Mike, may this be a wonderful New Year for us!"

Rhebpi closed the book. "Are you crying?" He asked, noticing Mike, hiding his head in his hands. Mike nodded. "They're happy tears right?" Rhebpi asked. Mike nodded. "Alright. I guess it's time to go back then." Rhebpi said as he shot another one of those arrows into a wall and dragged a still sobbing Mike through.

"Well Mike," Rhebpi said as they returned to the Manhattan Hotel. "Feel like staying alive now?"

"Well…" Mike looked outside and saw the giant clock for the ball drop. It said 11:55. "Hey! It's much later than when we left, shouldn't we be back to when we first time traveled?"

"Well… the arrows aren't as accurate is the Deporter and Returner are, but they get the job done. Look, the point is: you want to live now right?"

"The world is going to end in five minutes! Why can't I just jump now? We'll all be dead anyway!" Mike shouted. Rhebpi adopted a very stern look on his face.

"Are you an idiot? Do you really believe that?"

"I believe that a single good thing my dad said about me in the past, clearly isn't relevant right now, two years later, on doomsday!"

Rhebpi unhooked his triangular shield from his arm. "Let me show you something." He said, turning his shield around searching for something.

"What's going on?" Mike asked.

"This shield has three sections to it. One shows the past, one shows the present, and one shows the possible future. I just need to figure out which is which. I should probably label them or something. Ah here it is! This is your possible future."

"This should be a joke." Mike laughed. "There's only like, 3 minutes left of the world before technology turns against us and we're destroyed"

A third of the circle on Rhebpi's shield began to glow and suddenly, Mike saw him, only older.

"That's you five years from now." Rhebpi said seriously as the vision continued and the older Mike walked into a very nice house with a very attractive woman of around the same age. "You and your fiancé just both got your Masters and finished college. Now you're settling down in a nice house."

"B-but…the world is supposed to end in a minute, and I'm about to jump."

"Mike, listen to me." Rhebpi said seriously. "The good things in life don't necessarily make up for the bad, but the reverse is also true. The bad things in life don't necessarily spoil the good, but you will never have your life as good as the moment you just saw if you kill yourself. Do you understand where I'm coming from?"

"Y-yes…I think so! You're saying that even though I feel really bad right now, if I stay strong, I'll eventually get over these things and perhaps even feel happier than I've ever felt before."

"Mike, my dear child…" Rhebpi said, throwing a disk onto the floor, causing it to glow. "That's exactly what I'm saying. Perhaps one day I'll see you again, but you surely won't remember me. It's part of my job to erase memory."

The clock chimed midnight, cheers were heard from all over. It was now January 1, 2000. "And look at that!" Rhebpi said mockingly. "The world is still here, and the clock hasn't killed anyone!"

Mike snickered at the joke. "Wait!" he said, stopping Rhebpi from leaving for a second. "How did you know?"

"Know what?" Rhebpi asked.

"How did you know that I was going to try to kill myself?"

"Time is like a sort of choose your own adventure." Rhebpi said with a mischievous smile. "I see all the turns it may," he gestured his shield up. "Or may not," he gestured toward the window. "take. Farewell Mike!" Rhebpi said as he ran into the glow of the disk on the floor and disappeared.

**The Heavens**

"You didn't have to do that…" Cronia said with a grin as Rhebpi ran out of the Deporter.

"Ehh. I felt like it. Poor guy deserves a good life. He's an only child, has only one friend, which is his extra busy father. I felt a certain kinship. I mean, you take one look at him and his dad and you look me straight in the eye and tell me it doesn't remind you of our relationship."

"Ok, maybe a little." Cronia said with a smile. "But come on, eat sleep, and go! You're going to tackle a big one tomorrow!"

"And this big one would be?"

Cronia just grinned. "You'll see, little Angel, you'll see."


	3. 1-2

The Angel

1.2

**The Heavens**

"So you said this would be big…" Rhebpi said getting in the Deporter. "By big do you mean fun? Or do you mean long and annoying?"

"Well, I think it will be fun for you, but I cannot guarantee that you would get bored or annoyed." Crodia said as Rhebpi closed the Deporter's doors.

"Alright, then where and when to?"

"Dayton, Tennessee, Earth, 1925." Crodia replied. "We're going to pay our good 'friends' Mr. Darrow and Mr. Bryan a visit,"

"Who?" Rhebpi asked as he started up the Deporter.

"William Jennings Bryan, R! I thought you'd know all about this event."

"Why? What's going on?"

"The Scopes 'Monkey' Trial. A man is being sued for teaching evolution. Mr. Bryan is the head lawyer for the accusation, and defending Scopes is none other than Clarence Darrow, the most well known defense attorney of the time."

"Oh goody! This _will_ be fun! Come on, send me off! Let's go!"

**Dayton, Tennessee, Earth, 1925**

"What a dump!" Rhebpi said looking around at the small, poorly developed, country town. "So what's the plan Lord Crodia?" He asked into his shield, while flying circles over the town.

"The plan is simple. Just make sure you can convince at least _one _person that both these sides are _way_ off." Crodia's voice came from the shield, laughing.

"Haha, yeah you certainly have that right."

Rhebpi continued to fly in circles around the town, and soon found the town's main square. "Hey, can I please disguise as a human this time? Please?" He asked.

"Whatever floats your boat, R, just don't screw up. I wouldn't want you to keep having to do one event in time over and over until it's correct." Cordia replied. "I'll check back in with you in a while."

"Got it, Lord Crodia!" Rhebpi said with a grin as he landed and retracted his eagle wings into his back. "Now…" He said, pressing some buttons on his shield," let's go with the 'reporter' gimmick this time. That's believable." And suddenly he was dressed in a reporter's jacket and hat, and even had those glasses that reporters sometimes wore for no reason. His shield had disguised itself as a notepad, and his quiver full of arrows had turned into a backpack. "Perfect." He said with a grin as he strolled into town.

*Later that Night*

As Rhebpi walked into the courtroom, he noticed a small girl playing outside. The sun would set soon, and she would leave to go home, but Rhebpi couldn't help himself, he wanted to make sure he was in the right place. "Excuse me miss." He said. "I'm..uhh.." He looked around the courtroom trying to think of a name. "I'm Gavel…uhh…Floorboards… yeah I'm Gavel Floorboards, a reporter for the um…Eyewitness newspaper?"

"Ok mister." The young girl said giggling at the silly name Rhebpi had come up with.

"Little lady, can you tell me what all the buzz around here is about?"

"Mr. John Scopes is going on trial for teachin' sinful talk tomorrah! Mr. Bryan's gon' have to fight against Clarence Darrow if the word of God will stay righteous."

"Ugh,," Rhebpi said to himself. "You humans are so predictable. The secrets to the origin of life are there right before your eyes, but you still sit back and say it just 'happened' like nobody's business." He turned to the little girl. "Thanks sweetie. So it's going to be held here in this courtroom?"

"Y-" The girl was about to say yes, but she looked behind Rhebpi and saw Clarence Darrow, coming in through the front entrance. In the light his hunched figure looked red and menacing. "Ahh! It's the Devil!" The girl screamed and she ran off. Another reporter came and shook Darrow's hand.

"Hello Devil." This reporter said. "Welcome to Hell!"

"There are certainly no angels here." Darrow said. Rhebpi got a wicked grin. He instantly tossed his disguise and expanded his wings and ran up to Darrow and the reporter.

"You know, I love this 'speak of the Devil' phrase that people keep talking about. I mean, when has _anyone_ actually ever _seen_ the Devil after they were just talking about him? Never! Call me R by the way. It's easy for me." He said shaking both Darrow's and the reporter's hand.

"I'm…Clarence Darrow…" Darrow said uneasily, wondering if maybe Rhebpi was some lunatic kid.

"I'm Hornbeck, E.K. Hornbeck, from the Baltimore _Herald._" The reporter said. "Are you for or against evolution?" That question widened Rhebpi's already wide grin.

"I'm just an observer. I don't think either of _these_ answers are anywhere _near_ good enough to be considered final."

*Next Night*

Rhebpi hid in the shadows while a giant anti-evolutionist meeting took place. In the morning, a courtroom would be buzzing with action, but for now the show belonged to the town reverend.

"There you are!" Rhebpi heard and suddenly he found Clarence Darrow standing right next to him. "I've been looking all over for you R!" He said trying to make conversation. "You were quite the character last night…are you a real angel?"

"Well…I'm an Angel." Rhebpi replied. "With a capital A. We're different."

"S-So Bryan is wrong! Evolution is the correct answer!" Darrow jumped up.

"I never said that!" Rhebpi snapped. "In fact…" Rhebpi took out his shield. "Look at that third of the screen!" Rhebpi pointed to the third that showed the possible future.

"The jury's reached the verdict!" Darrow was astonished at what he was watching. "What? Guilty? No! But if you're here, you can testify! I know the future can be changed, I'm not a fool!"

"I'm sorry Clarence." Rhebpi said. "_That_ particular event is a certain point in time that will always be just like that. Scopes will always be found guilty, in every possible scenario."

"B-but…I traveled all the way down here…I was going to change everyone's mind…"

"Darrow!" Rhebpi snapped at him again. "One speech won't change the world!" He picked up a rock. "I could chuck this rock at a wall one time, and no structural damage would be done to it! Now be quiet and watch the rest of the anti-you meeting."

"Anti-us…" Darrow mumbled.

"No not really…" Rhebpi said quietly to himself.

After the whole meeting was over, both Rhebpi and Darrow were approached by a man that Rhebpi could only assume to be William Jennings Bryan. He couldn't quite hear the conversation taking place between the two human men, but just as he was about to leave he heard Bryan state clearly "Why is it, old friend of mine, that you have moved so far away?"

Darrow simply smiled and said "All motion is relative, my friend. Perhaps it is _you_ who has moved away, by standing still."

"Oh, ok, that's it!" Rhebpi said impatiently. "As far as I'm concerned you're all a bunch of goddamn idiots!" he said as he expanded his wings and flew off into the night sky.

"Who was that?" Bryan asked. "An evolutionist friend of yours?"

"I'm not entirely sure." Darrow replied. "But at least he's a free thinker."

*Courtroom*

Rhebpi was back in his human disguise, sitting next to E.K. Hornbeck, while Darrow and Bryan went head to head in the moral battle of the century. Since Rhebpi had shown Darrow an inevitable future, he was trying even harder to give John Scopes his innocence.

"Darwin has placed us on a lush green hill where we can view the path of where we came from, but if we are to truly take in this view and all its glory we must abandon faith in the pleasant poetry of Genesis!" Darrow argued.

"How very true." Hornbeck whispered to Rhebpi. Rhebpi gave a weak smile and looked back at the exchange between Darrow and Bryan.

"We must _not_ abandon faith!" Bryan argued. "Faith is the most important thing!"

"That's true as well." Rhebpi whispered to Hornbeck, who shrugged it off.

"Eh, maybe."

"It is. I'm sure." Rhebpi said seriously. Hornbeck smiled, and shrugged it off again.

"Then why did God plague us with the power to _think_, Mr. Bryan?" Darrow countered. And as he went on naming certain animals that were better than humans at certain things, Hornbeck turned to Rhebpi again.

"Why would he give us the power to choose either? It clearly makes us more superior."

"Uh, whoa there boy, slow down." Rhebpi said jokingly. "Quick newsflash, choice isn't a human only thing. A cat can choose what mouse to chase, a dog can choose a favorite human, heck even a fish can choose what direction it swims in!"

"Point taken." A wide eyed Hornbeck replied.

"-Even the simple _sponge_ is more durable! Or does a sponge think, Mr. Bryan?" Darrow wheeled on him.

"I don't know." Bryan replied. "I'm a man. Not a sponge."

"For the first time a plaintiff has been called in as a defense witness, this is pretty promising huh?" Rhebpi joked to Hornbeck, who snickered.

"Do you think a sponge thinks?" Darrow asked.

"If the Lord wishes a sponge to think, it thinks."

"This man wishes to be given the same privileges as a sponge!" Darrow roared for the first time. "He wishes to _think_!"

"Oh boy. This just got interesting!" Rhebpi told Hornbeck and they sat back and watched the rest of the trial.

*The jury has reached a verdict*

"Has the jury reached a verdict?" the Judge asked.

"We have, your Honor." A man from the jury said. "We find John Scopes guilty."

"The fine is 100 dollars." The judge said.

"Excuse me, I have a few closing remarks…" Bryan said.

"Your honor, the defense has no closing remarks to give, so if the court is to be fair, neither can the prosecution." Darrow said, knowing what Bryan was up to.

"But can I at least give them as an exit speech?" Bryan asked.

"Oh, alright.." The judge said as he rapped for order, but everyone was already leaving.

"People please, I have some remarks!" Bryan said into a microphone. More people got up and left.

"Um, he looks really pale…" Rhebpi pointed out. "I think something might be wrong with him!"

"I..I have…remarks…" He said as the few people that were still in the courtroom crowded around him as his face had lost all color. Suddenly, he collapsed and the bailiff and judge managed to catch him before he hit the floor.

"We'll see if we can help him." The judge said as everyone exited the courtroom except Darrow, Hornbeck, and Rhebpi.

"So, which side _do_ you agree with?" Darrow finally asked Rhebpi, clearly unable to take the mystery of it any longer.

"Well…" Rhebpi replied. "There are at least 3 sides to every story…and mine always has the best ending." And with that he took off his disguise and flew up to a beam in the ceiling of the courtroom, where he wouldn't be seen by the judge walking back in.

"Mr. Bryan has died of a busted belly." The judge said frowing.

"Bible beating bastard..." Hornbeck murmured.

"I'm getting damn tired of you Hornbeck!" Darrow said to him, clearly mad at his insult toward Bryan. "William Jennings Bryan was a great man!" At this point the judge exited the courtroom.

"Oh please." Hornbeck said. "That one line in _his_ book that _he _said is his own obituary! It's in the book of proverbs isn't it?"

"Let me see that!" Rhebpi said, flying down and snatching the bible out of Hornbeck's hand. "Oh… wrong… wrong… nope, never happened…oh, I remember that, boy were they pissed…oh, change those 40s to 40Ks. I know. I was there. I helped cause the flood." Rhebpi closed the book. "You're welcome!" He gave the book to Darrow.

"He that troubleth his own house, shall inherit the wind." Darrow said, quoting the Proverbs passage that Hornbeck was referring to. "And the fool shall be servant to the wise in heart."

Horbecks eyes opened up. "You...You're more religious than _he _was! Gentleman, Angel, if you excuse me, I have to go now to write a story." His eyes narrowed. "It's a story about an atheist who believes in God." He said looking at Darrow and he walked out of the courtroom.

"Well, I guess it's about time we both leave this town for good." Darrow said to Rhebpi.

"I agree." Rhebpi said. "I suddenly don't want to be here anymore. C'mon let's go!" He expanded his wings and flew off.

As he flew around the town, he noticed Darrow in the courtyard outside the courtroom, a Bible in one hand, a copy of Darwin in the other. He was weighing them, like a scale, until finally, he shrugged, slapped them together, and put them side by side in his briefcase.

"Finally." Rhebpi said. "Someone gets the idea." He threw his Returner disk and returned to The Heavens.


	4. 1-3

The Angel

1.3

**The Heavens**

Rhebpi flew out of the Deporter, having just returned from a successful mission in Dayton, Tennessee. "Alright I'm feeling pumped!" He said happily. "C'mon Lord Crodia, let's go! When to next?"

"Well, I'm a little preoccupied with this certain incident over in the Aegean Sea but I think we should wait a while before any decisions on whether to send an Angel or not is made."

"Ugh." Rhebpi groaned and flew off. "I think I can handle it!"

"Stay patient R, get some rest, you were in Dayton for far longer than you really needed to be. You need to adjust back to the feel of The Heavens."

"Yes, because I spend _so_ much time here!" Rhebpi said sarcastically.

"Alright, fine I do see your point…" Crodia replied.

"So I can go into the Deporter now?" Rhebpi asked excitedly.

"Sure get in…I guess it couldn't hurt to send an Angel."

"Ok, so I know we're going to the Aegean Sea, but um…when is this incident exactly?"

"Oh, just pick any random year during the beginning of the Greek Empire."

"How does 1400 B.C.E. sound?" Rhebpi asked from inside the machine.

"That'll do!" Crodia said. "Hold on little Angel! And be careful! The woman you're dealing with is a powerful sorceress. Stay on guard at all times!"

"Got it, Lord Crodia!"

**Aegean Sea, Earth, 1400 B.C.E.**

"Ahh!" Rhebpi said as he flew over the water. "Smell that sea breeze!"

"Well I sort of can't…" Crodia said through Rhebpi's shield. "I'm not physically there."

"Right." Rhebpi said sort of glumly. "I tend to forget sometimes."

"Just don't hesitate to contact me if you need anything ok?" Crodia asked.

"Don't worry Lord Crodia, I'll be fine!" Rhebpi said with a smile as he flew off.

Rhebpi kept flying for a while until he found an island in a very strange crescent shape. "That's the island, right Lord Crodia?"

"No…It's just an ominous crescent shaped island in the middle of the ocean." Crodia replied sarcastically. "Of course it's the island she's on!"

*On the island*

Rhebpi landed on the island with a thud. He got up, brushed the dirt off of himself, and started to walk through the thick forest toward a reddish blue light that he could only assume was the sorceress.

"Sure are a lot of you guys around here!" Rhebpi said as he picked up a chipmunk. It looked at Rhebpi straight in the eye and seemed to urge him to go toward the light. "Is something bad back there little fella?" Rhebpi asked.

"No! Please! Don't do this to me! Don't do this to maaaahhh-!" A man's voice was heard screaming from the source of the light.

"Well I suppose that answers that question…" Rhebpi said to the chipmunk. "Should we go have a word with this sorceress I've heard so much about?" He asked rhetorically and began to walk towards the reddish blue light. The chipmunk gulped as though that was the last direction it wanted to go in. As Rhebpi carried the ever more worrisome chipmunk towards the source of the light, a goat ran past them at full speed, clearly hell bent on getting out of the forest.

"Maaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!" It shrieked as it ran into the fog. "Maaaahhhh! Maaahhhh!"

"That can't possibly be good, can it Chippy?" Rhebpi asked the chipmunk, who once again gulped and this time, fainted.

Rhebpi kept walking for a while, carrying Chippy in the empty half of his quiver. He had no space-time arrows with him for this journey as he wouldn't need to use them. Eventually, he came upon a small cave.

"What are you doing here?" He heard a woman's voice asked.

"Please!" A men's voice asked in response. "Lady Myra, I was just here looking for my lost shipmates! If I don't return with them to Crete, the king of Menos will have my head!"

"So you're a filthy sailor. Rude! The lot of you! Do you know what happens to filthy sailors that run into _my_ home uninvited?" Myra's voice replied.

"No please! Don't turn me into a-*snort*snort*snort*"

"Hah! There you go! You are what all you sailors are! Pigs!" Myra scowled as a pig ran out of the cave and passed Rhebpi. He instantly took Chippy out of his quiver.

"You mean you're a human?!" he asked astonished. The chipmunk nodded rapidly. "You're free to go then!" Rhebpi said as he let Chippy go onto the ground. "Get out of here it isn't safe!"

The chipmunk nodded and scampered off into the foggy forest. Rhebpi looked to make sure it was gone before running up to the cave's outside wall and rubbing his hands all over it. "Eww I've got human all over me! Gross! It'll take a miracle to get the stench of human out of my quiver!"

"Who's there?" Rhebpi heard Myra's voice say. He gulped, took a deep breath, and then calmly walked into Myra's cave.

"You can call me R-"

"I know you're name Rhebpi!" Myra said. She was hooded, and wearing a giant earthen robe. Rhebpi was astonished at what he just heard.

"Is that really what my name sounds like when pronounced correctly?" He asked in disbelief.

"I honestly have no clue." Myra said, taking off her hood to reveal long dirty blond hair, and greenish eyes with a tint of brown near her pupils, much like the earthen robe she had on. She smiled. "What seems to be the problem R?"

"Well…" Rhebpi said walking around the cave, inspecting various goblets and cauldrons full of strange liquids. He picked up one that had green liquid in it. It was labeled 'Chipmunk.' "A little friend told me you've been going around changing people into animals…." He said, studying the mixture. He looked up at Myra. "But you aren't actually doing that, are you?" He asked with a grin.

"Well…ok I am, but let me explain!" She said. "Please sit down!" She pointed to a chair that looked like a spider had decided to build a playground of webs. Rhebpi reluctantly sat down.

"Tell me, R…" Myra said, pouring some sort of liquid into a cup. "…About life and death. Surely a creature such as yourself would know its secrets. I'm curious. What's it all like?" She sat down in a similar cobweb chair across from him, and put one goblet in each chair's cobweb like cupholder.

"I'm bound by a very strict code of conduct." Rhebpi said, studying the liquid inside the goblet, and then looking back at Myra again. "I cannot disclose the secrets of life and death to a mortal, and besides, it's hilarious to watch you try to figure out the answer yourself." He said with a wicked grin on his face, which was soon put away when he realized why he was here in the first place. "Listen." He said. "Why are you turning these poor defenseless men into forest animals?"

"Maaahhhh" Was heard from somewhere outside.

"And a goat." Rhebpi corrected himself.

"*Snort Snort*"

"And a pig…Why Myra?"

She sighed. "Well R, it really all started way back when I was just a child. I was still human back then…" She drifted off. "Were you a human once, Rhebpi?"

"Let's keep it at R." Rhebpi said sternly. "And no I was never a human, thank goodness. I'd never be able to put up with the mess I made." He joked.

"Well, not everyone can have that luxury." Myra said sternly. "I was still human back then, and I was picked on by all the boys in Menos!"

"Whoa whoa whoa…Menos? You're all the way from Crete? The same place as that-?

"Yes, yes. I'm from that pig's town. It's just that, everyone made fun of me because I was afraid of the water. They would always all tease me about how they would become strong sailors and how I would just grow up cooped in my home, in solitude."

"I see…" Rhebpi said, still studying the substance in his goblet.

"So now, whenever I see a rude sailor…I turn them into the animal that they best represent. Most of them become pigs, or goats, but there are a few that scamper about and become chipmunks, as well as a few that become valiant lions or majestic horses. One was so quiet, he became a clam and I had to hurl him back into the ocean." Myra concluded.

"Myra, that can't be the only reason that you're doing this. In solitude on a remote island, no one is here to tease you! The sailors on this island have clearly all lost their way as it's in the middle of goddamn nowhere!" Rhebpi retaliated.

"Admittedly, the feeling of sorcery has an effect on me." Myra admitted. "I can change everything I want into anything I want! I can make anything! I can un-make anything! With sorcery, I'm a goddess!" She said, standing up with her goblet in one hand, looking up toward the cave ceiling, arms outstretched as though she was reaching for The Heavens.

"Hahahaha!" Rhebpi started laughing.

"Oh, what's so funny fairy-boy?" Myra asked, a little irritated.

"I've seen goddesses." Rhebpi replied. "You aren't a goddess. You are nowhere near big enough!"

"Oh really?" Myra asked with a sinister grin. She took her goblet, and drank the liquid inside it. Rhebpi knew exactly what was going on. While Myra started to grow to be taller, he looked around the room, and saw it. The big cauldron in the back labeled antidote.

"Lord Crodia." Rhebpi said into his shield, which was producing static. "Have all the animals in the area come to the cave and jump in the cauldron in the back."

"Do you really think that's going to work?" Myra cackled. "You heard how much static that shield of yours produced! There is no _way_ that your precious deity heard you!"

She seemed to be right of course, and what was worse, she was now so tall, that her head almost touched the cave ceiling. "You think I'm a goddess now R?" Myra yelled. "Praise me!"

"I don't praise any god or goddess other than Lord Crodia!" Rhebpi said as he snatched his own goblet and drank the liquid inside. He suddenly felt weak. The liquid tasted like ground up brustlesprouts and fishticks. (Not a good combination) "Oh, what was that?" he asked in disbelief as he felt himself getting even smaller.

"Hah, you thought I'd give you a drink to make you bigger as well? Not a chance you sly creature! I know plenty of men with the same level of streetsmarts as you, you're sly like a fox, so a red fox you shall be! Heheheheheee!"

"Oh craarf! Woof!" Rhebpi was now having trouble speaking as he had turned completely into a fox.

"Now it's time to make a fox stew!" Myra said with a grin as she reached for Rhebpi.

Rhebpi scurried out of the way, and jumped up onto the table along the wall of the cave with all the potions and spells on it. He knocked a few goblets onto some stalagmites on the ground, causing them to break, and their liquid to drain into the soil. "No!" Myra screamed. "You stop that!"

Rhebpi looked at his front right paw. His shield was no longer on it, and he no longer had a bow in the left paw, but he could still feel a quiver strapped to his back. If he could just aim the arrows right…"

"Come here!" Myra said as she slowly move toward him, here gigantic robe, clearly hindering her movement.

Rhebpi shook his entire body and sent his whole half a quiver of combat arrows flying at Myra, they each stuck into Myra's earthen robe and pinned her to the wall. Rhebpi wagged his tail.

"Oh you think you're so clever?" Myra asked as a chipmunk scurried into the cave and past both of them. Myra simply got up and started to walk, the arrows came out of the wall of the cave. Her earthen robe was too full of earth for the arrow's to pierce. She walked toward Rhebpi, who kept back up, knocking down potion after potion, only this time by accident and through fear. "Come here you little-" She reached for him, but just as she was about to grab him with one of her hands, it was slapped away by a well thrown goblet shard.

"Leave him alone!" A man's voice said. Rhebpi and Myra both looked over near the antidote cauldron and saw a man in a sailor's uniform.

"Woof!" Rhebpi said. He wanted to say "Chippy" though because he could tell it was the chipmunk from earlier due to the very similar facial expressions.

"You! You're the captain of that infernal ship that wrecked my island's beautiful shore a month ago!" Myra turned toward him.

"I am!" He said as he took Rhebpi's empty goblet and filled it with antidote liquid as Myra came toward him. "and I wonder what would happen if your magic…" Myra started to reach out to grab him instead. "Was used against you!" He splashed the antidote on Myra's giant hand and all of a sudden it started to sizzle.

"No!" Myra screamed as she started to shrink back down to her original size. "How? How could this happen? Howwww?" She screamed before she fainted.

**The Heavens**

"And so then Chippy got out some rope because they always have rope for sailboats and ships and stuff, and tied her up!" Rhebpi explained to Crodia as he punched in keys from the outside of the Deporter.

"Well, she's in our custody now." Crodia said. "So you turned into a fox huh?"

"Shut up."

"I'm just saying, that's probably the first time an Angel has been dumb enough to turn into an animal…"

"Hey, I managed to solve that problem all without you intervening!" Rhebpi snapped.

"How do you know I didn't send the chipmunk?" Crodia joked.

"I know Chippy came back on his own terms!" Rhebpi replied. "Because…" Rhebpi said looking out at the Heaven's sky. "I…just know."


	5. 1-4

The Angel

1.4

**Amherst, Massachusetts, USA, Earth, 1849 C.E.**

Alone, up in a dark room with little light, sat Emily, an 18 year old woman who was cursed with a philosopher's mind. She had a pen in hand, and ink on the desk. She would begin writing…She thought. She would write for a hobby to pass her time by. She didn't like to go outside and her sister Lavinia was more than happy to help out around the grand old house that they and their parents lived in. Emily picked up her pen and started to write.

*A few weeks later*

As Emily sat down to, once again, write her poems a sudden crash was heard outside. Her parents were out, and Lavinia was shopping. She opened the window and looked outside from her top floor. "Hello?" She asked. "Is anyone hurt? Anybody ok?" The children playing near her house looked up at her and whispered into each other's ears.

"Well, I've been through worse landings than that." A voice said behind her. "But how very generous of you to worry about my wellbeing." Emily turned, startled by the voice, and saw in front of her, a man, at least, she was pretty sure he was a man, but he was carrying a small shield on one arm, and a bow in his other hand, he had a quiver of arrows on his back, and besides the uncommon blonde hair and blue eyes that he had for someone from Amherst, he was two gigantic eagle wings sprouting from his back. He was also wearing a peculiar form of pants, made out of some sort of blue substance…

"Those are called denim pants, or more commonly, jeans." He said.

Emily was astonished. An-an Angel was in her room. "An…Angel is in my room…" She said in disbelief. The Angel nodded, and he took out a piece of paper and wrote the word Rhebpi on it.

"That's my name." Rhebpi said, handing Emily the paper. "But no one knows how to pronounce it so you can call me R for short."

"Y-you aren't Cupid?" Emily asked, gesturing to his bow and arrows.

"Hahaha." Rhebpi laughed. "Cupid was my summer job! Still, it was fun to shoot humans in the butt with arrows, maybe I'll sign up to be Cupid again for this summer…"

"I'm Emily…" Emily said, a little nervous about the strange Angel in her house.

"Ah yes! Emily! I've read so much of your work, you truly are an amazing poet! I love the one you wrote about sanity! Absolutely stunning!"

"I haven't written anything of that sort…" Emily said backing away. "And I don't intend to publish my work so I doubt you've read it."

"Nonsense I've read all 1755 poems of yours! They're marvelous!"

"I've written 3 so far, R" Emily smiled sheepishly.

"Oh…" Rhebpi said embarrassed. "I guess my arrow shot me a little too far back in time then…oh well it got the place right, so I guess it doesn't matter. I can wait."

"Wait, you want to…stay here?"

"Emily, it would be my pleasure, no, my _honor_ to stay in the same house as you. Humans like you are hard to come by, and the more time I can spend with a human like you, the more motivated I can be to do my job."

"Well…" Emily said thinking, "I'd have to check it over with my parents first…and my sister might need to get used to the whole Angel living in the house idea. What do you even eat?"

Rhebpi shrugged. "That's an excellent question, but whenever I travel into space-time, I'm always rather full. Besides, deprivation of food can't harm me. My body has no sense of space-time so it can never remember how much I've eaten or how long it's been since I last ate. As for your parents…they had you go to that Seminary right?"

"Mount Holy Oke?" Emily asked. "How do you know about that?"

"Emily dear child, I'm a goddamn Angel! That's how!" He joked, making her giggle. "If you're parents want you to be religious, they should encourage an Angel in your room!"

"But, and I know this is probably a terrible thing to say in this scenario, I don't want to be religious, R, and you being around won't change that!" Emily said looking down, and sitting on her bed. "You can go ahead and hate me like everybody else now."

"Emily…" Rhebpi said sitting on her bed next to her, and putting his arm around her shoulder. "There's really only one reason I'm here, and that's because I love meeting humans like you. You poor thing, you deserve so much better than what you've gotten…"

Emily leaned over and hugged Rhebpi, his giant wings felt soft like a cloud, and he smelled like the fresh air of the troposphere. "If you stay…" She said. "You have to promise me that you'll stay forever."

Rhebpi chuckled. "Wasn't that the plan before?" He half joked. Emily smiled and fell asleep. Rhebpi carefully put her down on her bed. "Sleep tight." He whispered.

*Years Later* **1875**

As Emily woke up, she saw, as always, Rhebpi looking out the window at the sunrise. "What do you think, Emily?" He asked. "Is this a good morning?"

"Well, morning without you is a dwindled dawn." Emily said half asleep.

"Wait, wait, that's part of one of your poems!" Rhebpi exclaimed. "Have you written one with that line in it yet?"

"I wrote it last night." Emily smiled. They both laughed.

"You sound happier…" Rhebpi said. "What are you so excited about?"

"Well, let's just say I'm about to, I dunno, hit my 1000th poem!" Emily announced. Rhebpi leapt from the windowsill and walked toward the desk. "Let's have you start it then!"

"Emily!' Lavinia rushed into the room. "Emily, R, it's Mom! She's….Dead!"

"And only a year after the death of the father…" Crodia's voice whispered to Rhebpi through his shield.

"Not the time." Rhebpi whispered back.

Emily was petrified. "I think I know what to write…" Emily said, in a daze. Rhebpi looked at her, and shook her, but she just walked towards the desk. "I know what to write." She repeated.

Rhebpi turned toward Lavinia and shrugged. "The best thing to do now" he said "would be to wait, and just hope for the best.

*3 days later*

Emily finally got out of her desk, and got into her bed. Rhebpi, who had been watching her the whole time, rushed to the desk to see what she wrote.

"My life closed twice before its close? After pain, a formal feeling comes? I heard a fly buzz when I died?" Rhebpi put the paper down gently. "I was afraid this would happen…" He said. He took his shield off of his arm. "Show me Emily's most likely future right now." He told it, and the third of the shield glowed and showed Rhebpi Emily's most likely future. It was just her, lying in bed, doing nothing…nothing at all. Then it went blank and said: Year of death: 1875.

"Show me her past now…" Rhebpi said fearfully. "Has she already written 'because I could not stop for death'?" A separate third of the shield lit up and showed Rhebpi Emily at her desk, years ago, writing the 'because I could not stop for death' poem. "Ok…" Rhebpi said putting the shield away and grabbing the top sheet of paper.

"You poor, poor thing." He said to Emily, who was currently asleep. "To think of all the universes, all the time periods, all the possibilities, all lives, you've been cursed with this one. I feel your pain. Trust me. That's why I'm going to stop at absolutely nothing to make sure you make the most of it."

*The Next Morning*

As Emily woke up, she noticed Rhebpi sitting over here, not on the windowsill like normally. "Leave me alone R." She said. "I'm done with life. I want to be an Angel like you. Let me die a natural death."

"Well, first off, this wouldn't be a natural death, you'd be committing suicide, which I discourage, no matter how sad you are."

"Both my parents are dead, all the adults in town think I'm insane, and the only people who like me are the children because _you_ drop little candy baskets down at them for fun! If they all want to think I'm crazy let them. I won't have to suffer for very long."

"Emily! Listen to me!" Rhebpi pleaded. "Cheer up. The smartest and most respected people in history were _all_ thought to be insane at one point or another in their life."

"But…both my parents are dead…that's half my friends gone and my friends are-"

"Are your estate yes I know. I lover your poems remember?"

"But I'm still not publishing them, other than the 7 already out there. How do you know all of them? Look that's not the point." She noticed the paper in Rhebpi's hand. "You got something there, R?" She asked puzzled.

Rhebpi cleared his throat, winked, then read aloud.

"My life closed twice before its close;

It yet remains to see

If immortality unveil

A third event to me,"

Rhebpi looked up at Emily, who was still in her bed. "You're worried that your sister might go too. And you don't think you'd be able to handle it." He deciphered.

"Yes!" Emily sat up. "That's exactly what it is!."

"She'll outlive you." Rhebpi reassured her. "In every scenario in time possible, she will still outlive you."

"That's actually really reassuring." Emily said with a smile.

"I think I'll keep reading." Rhebpi said clearing his throat again.

"So huge, so hopeless to conceive,

As these that twice befell,

Parting is all we know of heaven,

And all we need of hell."

Rhebpi looked up at Emily. "While I get that the death of your parents bugs you, trust me I know, I've seen my loved ones die when I was still very knew to the universe, I don't quite understand the part about how parting is all we know of heaven."

"The important part is that it's all we need of hell." Emily said.

"No, that's not the important part." Rhebpi smiled. "It's unhealthy for someone young like you to think like that! The important part is that the parting is all we know of heaven isn't true in the slightest!"

"What do you mean?" Asked Emily as she turned so she now was sitting with her feet on the wooden floor.

"Emily, I happen to be an Angel. I'm from the Heavens. Now, when in your life have I _ever_ parted with you?"

Emily just smiled and got up. "I think I'll have some breakfast." She said. Rhebpi wasted no time once she went downstairs, he took his shield and turned it toward him. "Show me Emily's year of death." He said.

"Don't you love the voice command function?" Crodia's voice asked through the shield as a third of it lit up.

"Ha! Absolutley!" Rhebpi said. "C'mon shield, let's go…chop chop…load…"

The shield then showed Emily in a hospital bed, and said Year of Death: 1886.

"Oh…Oh phew that was a close one…" Rhebpi said placing his hand upon his heart as though it had stopped for a while.

"R, what are you still doing there?" Crodia asked. "This isn't very productive!"

"Calm down, Lord Crodia." Rhebpi replied. "I only have to stay here for ten more years, but I made a promise to Emily and I intend to keep it."

"I didn't think you'd be so fond of a human. You don't seem to feel too sympathetic for them very often."

"It's different with Emily." Rhebpi said. "She has something most humans don't have…I just haven't figured out what it is yet."

**1886**

Rhebpi stood by Emily's side while she slowly, very slowly, passed away. The doctors could do nothing. Her time had come. "I can't believe we have to say goodbye soon." She said.

"I'm just glad we didn't say goodbye earlier." Rhebpi smiled at her. She gave a weak smile back.

"Burn them." She told him.

"What?'

"My poems, burn them. I don't want anyone to see them."

"Emily, I can't promise you that. I love your poems."

"Fine. I suppose if you want to you can keep them, but you can't publish them!"

"Understood!" Rhebpi said with a glint in his eye. "_I_ won't publish them."

They both stayed silent for a while, Rhebpi holding Emily's hand. It was complete and udder silence until Emily finally asked. "R, what's death like? Am I going to get into heaven?"

"Well Emily…" Rhebpi said. "Death is a lot more complicated than the heaven/hell idea that the church has come up with, and it's not that reincarnation crap either, but I will tell you this: You of all people, are going to have the most wonderful, spectacular afterlife imaginable. It will put you truly at peace."

"Thank you." She said before she closed her eyes, for the last time.

*Back in the house*

"But she told you not to!" Lavinia scolded Rhebpi. "She said that she didn't want them published."

"She said she didn't want _me_ to publish them." Rhebpi said slyly. "You can do that however, now help me bundle these up for you!"

*Later*

"Is that all of them?" Lavinia asked.

"Yep." Rhebpi said. "All 1755 poems."

"That's interesting…then what's this one doing here?"

"What?" Rhebpi turned. "But I put them in bundles of five! There were 1755 poems!"

"I guess she wrote a 1756th poem then." Lavinia said, handing Rhebpi the sheet. He read it to himself in his head.

Hope is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul,

And sings the tune—without the words,

And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm

I've heard it in the chilliest land,

And on the strangest sea;

Yet, never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me

Rhebpi looked on the other side of the paper. There was a big R, with wings sprouting out of it. His wings. He looked more closely at it. "To the Angel who saved my soul." Was written inside the R. "That's what she has…That's what I admire the most about her. She has a pure, clean soul."


	6. 1-5

The Angel

1.5

**The Heavens**

"How are we feeling R?" Crodia asked a half asleep Rhebpi. "Are you ready to set sail on the magical sea of time yet?"

Rhebpi turned over. "I suppose I never really have much of a choice do I?" He yawned.

"You'd have more energy in you if you didn't spend all that time with that one Dickinson human…" Crodia scolded. "Look at you, you clearly can't be trusted with your arrows for a while." He said as he took Rhebpi's bow and quiver full of arrows away from him.

"Woah woah, c'mon give me the space-time ones and the bow back. No combat I promise. I rarely fight anyway." Rhebpi pleaded, now much more awake.

"Fine…" Crodia said, tossing the quiver and bow back at Rhebpi. "Now get inside the Deporter. We have a big one today."

"Alright! C'mon let's go!" Rhebpi said once he was inside the Deporter. "So where are we going?"

"Oh, your favorite…" Crodia said sarcastically. "Old Earth. Of course it's more commonly referred to as-"

"Venus…" Rhebpi said from inside the Deporter. "Alright, let's get this over with. What's the problem?"

"Well, no real problem, but it would be ideal if we could stop Venus from becoming a giant ball of acid. But don't worry if you don't succeed. This is more of an experiment than anything else. Of course, if you do succeed, imagine the gigantic leap in technology that would take place. Your pal Emily might be able to write her poems on computers if you succeed here!"

"Well, I suppose that's a bonus…" Rhebpi said. "Alright, let's go! Fire it up Lord Crodia!"

"Approaching Venus, year 10 B.B.B.C.E."

"Before before before common era?" Rhebpi asked. "You know what I think of the humans of this time, Lord Crodia…" he complained.

"Pay attention, little Angel." Crodia chided. "You're in for a big trip."

**Venus, Year 10, B.B.B.C.E.**

Rhebpi landed with a thud in front of a big tree stump. Venus at this time was lush with plant life, and was a suitable living environment for all creatures. "Someone needs to fix the Deporter…" He said, rubbing his back. He then noticed the tree stump. "Hey! Who chopped down a tree? Trees are a vital part of all life on Venus!" He said, irritated.

Rhebpi heard whistling coming from inside a nearby hut. He walked by to peek inside. Sitting on a stool, knitting some kind of weird sweater, was a man dressed in all green.

"What in Crodia's name have you done to the tuft of that tree? And where have you put the rest of it?" Rhebpi asked the man angrily.

"You…" the man said. "Who are you?"

"I'm an Angel!" Rhebpi replied. "I'm here to speak for these trees. I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues, so I'm asking you sir, at the top of my lungs: That Thing!" Rhebpi shouted. "That ridiculous thing that I see! What the heck is that _thing_ you've made out of this tree?!"

"Calm down, Angel." The man said. "There's no cause for alarm. I chopped only one tree. I have done no harm. Besides this thing is quite useful. This thing is a chneed. And a chneed is something, that everyone needs."

"Everyone?" Rhebpi asked skeptically. No chneeds existed in any other time he'd been to.

"Yes, Everyone." The man said. "It's a sweater! It's a suit! It's a rug! It's a hat! But it has other uses, yes far beyond that. It's a blanket, that absorbs the most heat, or a pillow case, or a cover for a bicycle seat!"

"Sir…" Rhebpi said calmly. "You are crazy. Crazy with greed. There is no one on Venus dumb enough to buy that dumb chneed."

But no sooner had Rhebpi said that than who should arrive, but a curious man, who bought the chneed for a solid $75.00. The man in green turned to Rhebpi. "See that you Angel?" the man snickered. "Someone did buy my product. Now if you excuse me, I have some relatives to call. I'm going to need a lot of help if this company will get off the ground!"

"No!" Rhebpi shouted. The man jumped, and fell off his stool, astonished that Rhebpi was so adamant about not making more chneeds. "Look…" He said calming down. He spread his arms and wings out wide and was soon surrounded by swans and gibbons. Dolphins poked their heads out of a nearby lake. "The trees in this forest are vital to the animals that live here." Rhebpi explained, gesturing to all the gathered animals. "But you're chopping the trees down to make those things…" He gestured to a chneed. "So, we have a big problem!"

"I see your point Angel, yes I do see your point." The man said. "But I'm not going to get rich by just sitting here, oh no. I'll only chop a few trees you'll see. Things will be perfect, for the animals, and for me."

Rhebpi shook his head. "Sir, I have a question for you, if you don't mind."

"Go ahead, ask away."

"Which way does a tree fall?" Rhebpi asked glumly.

"What?" The man laughed. "Trees fall downward…right?"

Rhebpi sighed. "A tree falls the way it leans." He said. "You should be careful which way you lean." And with that, Rhebpi flew off into the forest.

**Year 8 B.B.B.C.E.**

Two years had passed by and the green man's business had grown into such a big corporation that at the foot of the chneed factory was a small town called Chneedville. The sky was significantly darker than two years ago, what with all the smog from the factory, and the water wasn't nearly as clean due to the waste being dumped into it. On top of all of that however, was the giant decline in the Venus tree population.

"Boss." A woman's voice said through the intercom. "Boss, you have a visitor."

"Send him up." The green man said.

As the doors opened and Rhebpi walked in, the green man's smile faded. "What do _you_ want? I've been chopping for two years and nothing bad has happened yet!"

"That is where you're wrong." Rhebpi said. "Thanks to you, chopping these trees to the ground, the gibbons don't have enough Venus fruit to go 'round!"

"And?" The man asked, missing the point.

"I'm sending them off." Rhebpi said. "For they'll starve and die if they stay. Now they need to find a new home, and I hope that they may…" He took out one of his space-time arrows and shot it, creating a hole in the sky, and ushered the gibbons through. "Good-bye boys!" Rhebpi called. "Good luck!"

"Hmmm…" The man said thinking.

"Do you see what I'm saying?" Rhebpi asked.

"I see your point." The green man replied. "Yes I do see your point. I'll tell you what; I'll think about it."

"Think about it?" Rhebpi asked angrily. "_Think_ about it?"

"Is something wrong with thinking, Angel?" The man asked irritated.

"The time for _thinking_ about it was two years ago! You have to stop this! This is bad!"

The man looked out at the town. "But what about the people? They rely on my chneeds! Am I supposed to just stop making them? Is that good for business? Is that sound for the economy?!"

"I see your point…" Rhebpi said. "But I'm afraid I wouldn't know the answer. I'm not a human. I do however know that if this keeps up, nothing good will come, and you have to believe me. Please, just once, think about what's right for the environment." Rhebpi said before he flew away again.

"Who was that sir?" The woman's voice asked over the intercom.

"It was just a pesky angel-kid. He won't be bothering us again." The green man said

*Deep in the forest*

"This doesn't seem to be working so far, Lord Crodia." Rhebpi said looking up at the night sky. "I had to send the gibbons off today."

"Oh, where did they go?" Crodia asked.

"The only planet I could think of, Earth."

"Haha, that's funny…" Crodia said. "The gibbons are alien creatures but the humans don't realize it, hilarious…..R….You aren't laughing…where's your sense of humor? I thought you'd find that funny."

"It's not as funny when you're actually here, Lord Crodia…" Rhebpi said, turning over, sulking. "It's not fun to watch the same human screw up again and again."

"Stay strong R." Crodia encouraged him. "Eventually you'll get to him…I think."

**Year 6 B.B.B.C.E.**

Chneedville was now a buzzing metropolis. Factories to the left and right, everywhere, but the biggest, and main chneed manufacturing factory laid right on the outskirts of the city,

"Boss! Boss! It's that angel-kid!" The woman's voice said. "That annoying angel-kid is back again!" She said through the intercom as Rhebpi stormed through the door.

"You! Green pants! Come with me!" He ordered sternly.

"Yes sir, Mr. Superior." The green man said sarcastically. Rhebpi rolled his eyes and led the green man to the lookout of the top floor of the factory.

"All these factories are producing way too much smoke and smog!" Rhebpi complained. "The swans can't take any more of it! They can't sing their songs and find mates anymore due to this smoggy weather. Now they only sing sour notes, for no one can sing with smog in their throats. *cough* *Cough*. So, *cough* please pardon my cough. They can no longer live here. *cough* So I'm sending them off."

"Sending them off? Where will they go?" The man asked as Rhebpi shot another space-time arrow into the sky.

"Where will they go?" He replied. "I don't hopefully know…" He said as he flew off, and sang as he ushered the swans through the space-time hole. "Will there be another dawn? A sunrise for these graceful swan? Exit, exit, exit swan, going, going going….gone." He sang as the last swan flew through the vortex. And he flew into oblivion.

*Later*

"Why do you do the things you do?" The green man asked himself in the mirror. "You should be ashamed of yourself! The things you do are completely not good!"

"Well, yeah." His reflection replied. "But if I didn't do them then someone else would!"

"That's a very good point!" The green man replied, and was about to go back to work when he was face to face with Rhebpi again.

"Sorry to be back so soon!" Rhebpi said, "But we have a big problem."

"The problem is that you won't leave me alone!' The green man said.

"That is _IT!"_ Rhebpi yelled. "I'm sorry to yell, but I've lost my patience with you! Allow me to say a few words about the waste created by you!" He grabbed the green man by the arm and flew him downward to the edge of the pond bordering the wall of the factory. "The waste that you make chopping down the trees to make chneeds is going straight into the pond where the dolphins swim!"

"And what's so bad about that? They can handle a little trash. We can!"

"No they can't handle this much contamination. They too need to leave, and they'll have the hardest time finding a new environment of all these animals!" Rhebpi shot another hole, this time into the water, and coaxed the dolphins into it.

"First the poor gibbons…" The green man said. "Then the poor swans, and now the poor dolphins… Angel…at last I think I understand…"

"Boss! Boss!" The woman's voice said. "Chneed stock market just went up by 170 %!"

"Whoa! Whoa! Wow! Now you listen to me Angel!" The green man said turning on Rhebpi. "You speak for the trees? Hah! I speak for men! And human opportunities! In fact, I'm figuring on biggering! Haha, and biggering, and biggering! And nothing, _nothing_ is going to stop me!"

But at that very moment they heard a loud whack. That sound was the sickening smack of an axe on a tree, and they tuned and saw the tree fall. The very last Venus tree of them all. That was it. No more work, no more chneeds to be made, and the other humans all left, until only the green man, and Rhebpi, remained.

**Year 4 B.B.B.C.E.**

"I turned and looked at the Angel and he said nothing." The green man told a small boy from behind his shudders. "He just gave me a glance. He gave me a very, sad, sad backward glance, as he lifted himself until we all looked like ants flew away, from my factory and I, through a space-time hole, in the smog covered sky. And all that the Angel left in his place was a pile of rocks with just one word: Unless."

"Unless?" the boy asked.

"Yes. Unless." The green man said. "At first I wasn't sure about what it meant, but you, why now that you're here, the word the Angel left seems perfectly clear!"

"It does?" The boy asked.

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot. Nothing is going to get better, it's not." The green man tossed the boy a seed. "Here! Catch it! Don't muff it!" The boy caught the seed. "That there is a Venus tree seed." The green man said. "And Venus trees are what everyone needs. Take care of that seed, treat it with care! Give it clean water, and feed it fresh air. Grow a forest! Protect it from axes that hack. Then….. the Angel… …and all of his friends…... might….. one day….. come back."


	7. 1-6

The Angel

1.6

**The Heavens**

"C'mon let's go!" Rhebpi said cheerfully gliding into the Deporter and retracting his eagle wings into his back. "I have to get back on my feet after that incident with Venus!"

"Well…" Crodia said, stroking his chin. "I was going to send you to Saturn…but something strange has come up back on Earth…I can't really explain it, but in short, you're heading toward the Bermuda Triangle."

"Bermuda..." Rhebpi repeated uncertainly. He couldn't quite place it, but the name had an unpleasant familiarity about it. "Bermuda…" He said again. "Bermuda…"

"Bermuda is the spot where you last…y'know…" Crodia sliced his finger across his neck and made a creaking sound.

Rhebpi gulped. "Are you sure this has to be done now? Maybe we could try your Saturn problem first…" Rhebpi was no longer cheerful. He stood still and stoic as a statue inside the Deporter.

"Believe me, R." Crodia said as he punched in some numbers into the Deporter. "When you get there, you'll find out exactly why this is more important than my Saturn problem."

Rhebpi gulped again. "Alright then…" he said expanding his wings and preparing for flight. "Let's get this over with."

**Bermuda Triangle, Earth, 2000 C.E.**

Rhebpi zoomed out of the Deporter doors and flew over the vast sea. "So, Lord Crodia?" He asked into the shield.

"Yes?" Crodia replied.

"Exactly what are we looking for here?" He asked, looking around and seeing nothing but water and sky.

"Ohohohoho…" Crodia laughed. "Don't you worry little Angel. What we're looking for is eventually going to find you!"

"Of course…" Rhebpi said bitterly. "It's one of _those_ missions…"

"Well if I told you right away you wouldn't go would you?" Crodia countered. "Listen, that area will make the shield as static as a sheep in a fleece and slippers, so I won't be able to communicate with you once you land. You're going to be on your own ok?"

"It's fine Lord Crodia…" Rhebpi said glumly. "wait…" He stopped moving and hovered still in the air. "What did you mean by land? There's no land anywhere near here!"

"Bzzzzz…." The shield was already losing connection with The Heavens.

"Crap…" Rhebpi said to himself as he got out a combat arrow and armed his bow. "This better be worth the trouble…" He groaned as he began to move again.

Rhebpi flew for a few more minutes before giant red clouds rolled in. "The heck?" He wondered aloud. "Since when are storm clouds red?" He shook his head to try and snap out of it, but when he opened his eyes again, the clouds were still there, and still red. The weird thing was though, that they all seemed to be coming from the same area… a small little spot in the ocean that was a tad darker than the others.

Rhebpi flew up towards one of the red clouds. "What are you?" He asked it as he stretched out his hand to try and touch it. Just as his finger reached the cloud, he pulled his hand back as fast as he could, and flew forty yards back. Touching the cloud was a mistake. He could see the bone of his finger. Whatever that cloud was, it was more acidic than car battery acid.

"What have we here?" A small child's voice said from the small spot in the ocean. "Have my clouds found something that also isn't human? Manda, bring him to me!"

"That voice sounds so familiar…" Rhebpi said as he flew around the clouds. "Wait a minute… Manda!?" Rhebpi started to fly away as fast as possible, but he was cut off as a gigantic green serpent with two small arms emerged from the water right in front of him.

"Kroawhhhh!" It screeched, and grasped for Rhebpi, who, in a state of utter terror, expertly flew out of the way, and made a u-turn.

"Why? Why of all times must this be now?" He asked looking up. He looked behind him, Manda was still gaining on him.

"Kroawhhh!" It screamed again. Rhebpi prepared his bow and shot an arrow at Manda, who caught it with one of its short arms and threw it far away.

"No!" Rhebpi yelled, trying as hard as he could to pick up the pace. "I'm not going to die like this again! Once is enough!" He shot another arrow back at Manda, this time sniping it in the right eye.

"Kroawhhhhhhhhhh!" It wailed as it stopped chasing Rhebpi.

"Hah! Take that you overgrown worm!" Rhebpi taunted looking behind him, he turned back to realize he was about to head straight into the acidic red clouds! "Oh nononono!" He turned around again, desperate to avoid melting, and ended up flying straight into Manda's arm.

"Kroawhhhh!" Manda roared in his face and it threw him into the dark ocean spot, where Rhebpi landed unexpectedly with a thud. What he thought was water was actually cooled off magma. He tried to get up, but lost couldn't. as he lost consciousness, he thought he heard the laughter of the little girl's voice from before."

**2008 C.E.**

Rhebpi finally regained consciousness to find himself in a small bed. He sat up. He still had all his clothes on. His quiver and arrows were still here. His bow was safely shrunken into a throwing star in his pocket. He looked for his shield, but he couldn't find it on him. He got up out of the bed, and looked on the nightstand next to it, but found nothing but a lamp, a clock, and a couple of books. He looked around the otherwise empty, blank, room, but found no sign of his shield anywhere. He attempted to exit the room, but the door was locked from the outside.

"Well…this sucks." He said going back to the bed and sitting down. He looked at the clock. "10:23 pm, EST,…2008?" He read the clock aloud in disbelief. "It's already been eight years? Must've been some injury…" He joked to himself, and then he hung his head. "It's not as fun without Lord Crodia to hear those jokes." He said to himself.

The door began to creak open. "Well, there is another life form in this room, I think it might be an Angel, but it's been unconscious for years now, I'm not sure if it will live much longer." A familiar feminine voice said.

"'It' has a name you know!" Rhebpi called from inside, at which point the door bust open and two figures walked in. The first one was strange, it was as though a woman was fused with a crow…she had a crow's head, and crow legs, but she still had arms and the figure of a human woman. The second Rhebpi recognized easily by her dirty blonde hair and earthen robe, along with the green and brown eyes. The second one was Myra, the sorceress he had fought back in the Aegean Sea, only this time, she looked much younger, in fact she seemed not to be much older than 16."

"You said it was unconscious!" The crow woman squawked. "How do you expect me to share my room with this-this-_thing_ awake?"

"I-…" Myra said disappointed.

"Look who's talking!" Rhebpi retaliated. He reached into his pocket and pulled out two business cards, each one with his name on it. "I'm an Angel. That's my name." He said. "No I can't pronounce it, just call me R and we'll get along fine."

"Rheb….pi?" Myra asked reading the card. Rhebpi shrugged.

"Maybe…"

"Rhebbi?" She asked again.

"Look, Myra I really don't know!" Rhebpi said raising his hands up as though he was being held at gunpoint.

"You know my name?" She gasped, dropping the business card Rhebpi had given her.

"He must've met you earlier in time." The crow woman said. "He probably met you and erased your memory." She sneered.

"You…" Rhebpi said pointing at the crow. "If you could give me some time with Myra, that would be great. I have a lot of explaining to do, and I'd rather you not be around for it."

"Hmph." The crow woman replied. "I think I'll leave this place altogether!" She said as she plucked a feather off of Rhebpi's snow white eagle wing.

"Ow!" He said. "That was rude!"

"Oh sue me…" The crow said sarcastically as her arms morphed into black wings and she flew through the doorway.

Myra turned to Rhebpi, she was angry now. "That creature was going to pay me a lot of money for room and board here!" She snapped. "I don't care if you do know my name, driving away guests is completely unacceptable."

"So is forcing them in with giant sea-dragons!" Rhebpi said gesturing to himself.

"That was eight years ago! You were the first non-human I found, I was desperate for company, so I used some magic and took control of Manda to help bring you to me…"

"What?" Rhebpi asked in disbelief. "Two things: what makes you so different from humans, and two: how does me being the first non-human to fly this way justify your letting a giant sea-beast loose on me? You know that thing killed me once? I was flying with Amelia Earhardt across the globe. The mysterious vanish? Manda _ate_ her!"

"Ok, ok…" Myra said sitting on the bed. "I admit it was a little unorthodox to do that, but I figured that since conscience and guilt are human things…"

"Let me stop you there…" Rhebpi said. "What makes you so sure you aren't human?"

"Well, I can do magic." Myra said. "Spells, potions, artifacts that grant special power, you name it, I can do it. All because of that one book I found." She pointed to the book at the bottom of the book pile on the nightstand. Rhebpi walked over and picked it up.

"A Beginner's Introduction to the World of Sorcery." He read aloud. "And what were you like before this?"

"Well, before I found that book, I was human like anyone else…" Myra said. "Except I was always so scared of the water, all the boys would tease me about how they'd become sailors…"

"Ok, not to burst your bubble but I've heard that story before." Rhebpi said. "You told it to me, or I guess you're going to tell it to me, later, no wait…you're going to tell me this story back in 4000 B.C.E."

"Rheppi…I was born 16 years ago. I wasn't alive back then."

"Just call me R, please Myra." Rhebpi said. "Rheppi isn't even close. I can tell that just by looking at my name."

"Ok, 'R'," Myra said quoting with her fingers. "Like I said, I wasn't alive back then."

"No…but you will be." He shot a time-space arrow into the wall. "That leads to a remote island, perfect for practicing magic, in ancient times."

"Perfect for practicing magic?" Myra's eyes lit up. She got up and started toward the time-space hole in her wall. Rhebpi jumped in front of it, blocking her.

"No. You can't leave just yet." He said. "We aren't done here."

"What do you mean?" Myra asked innocently.

"I mean where's my shield?"

"You aren't talking about that triangle thing are you?" Myra gulped.

"I am talking about that triangle thing." Rhebpi said sternly. "Where is it?" He started backing her up into the wall on the opposite side of the room. "What did you do?!"

"I-I didn't think you would wake up! That crow-woman said she was trying to make one like it, and offered me a good million dollars for it! So I gave it to her! Please don't be mad! Maybe you can just get another one!"

"I can't 'just get another one.' Myra." Rhebpi said angrily. "Now I'm going to lay a few things on you and I want you to listen and listen good, and then go to that island and for the love of the universe, don't give me a reason to meet you a third time!"

Myra nodded rapidly, clearly scared of what Rhebpi was going to say.

"First:" Rhebpi said. "You aren't human, but it wasn't magic that took your humanity away, it was the selfish and frivolous way you used it! Second, consciousness and guilt, aren't human-only emotions. You're conscious of this moment, as am I, and you must feel guilt for selling my shield, I'd be downright outraged if you didn't, which brings me to my third and final point, Myra. I'm an Angel! I'm not one of those cuddly angels you heard about in Sunday school either! We're not as sympathetic, we're not as forgiving. We may be tolerant, but if you do anything to ever make a single one of us downright furious, a power more terrifying than you're puny semi-human mind can imagine will be unleashed upon you for eternity! You're dangerously close to a fire Myra, and if it burns you, the pain will never, I repeat, _never_, go away!" Rhebpi sighed. "Now…go to your island, and remember that the next time you see me, it will be me meeting you for the first time, so I have no idea that this conversation has ever taken place. Understand?"

Myra nodded rapidly. "Y-yes…!" She tried to say but it was barely audible.

"Good." Rhebpi said backing off. "Go to your island now. I've had enough of you for one day."

Myra nodded and ran into the time-space hole, eager to get out of the same room as an angry Angel. Rhebpi reached into his quiver, sighed, and took out the Returner disk. He threw it against the floor, rubbed the spot on his wing that the crow woman had stolen a feather from, and slowly walked into the light that the Returner was making.

**The Heavens**

"You LOST it?" Crodia asked. "How in the cosmos do you lose the most powerful shield in the universe?"

"Yet it still can't connect with The Heavens in remote locations…" Rhebpi muttered.

"No joking!" Crodia scolded. "I specifically remember telling you when you first started working here-"

"To never-ever-ever let the shield out of my sight, I know!" Rhebpi said. "I was unconscious, Lord Crodia! If I had any clue of where the shield was I'd get it back!"

"I hope I can trust you with that…" Crodia said.

"Lord Crodia!" An Angel flew in from a space-time hole frantically. He was in a prison guard outfit. "We have a big problem! Cell block D had been breached! All the inmates have escaped!"

"D? That's the one Myra was in!" Rhebpi exclaimed, astonished.

"What's more sir…" The Angel said. "Is where all the inmates went…" He handed Crodia a small disk and a video played, and Rhebpi saw a dark, seemingly timeless zone of floating ruins, and on the tallest tower of a castle clearly made of antimatter, was the crow-woman from before.

"Oh no…how did _she_ get out of Tartarus?" Crodia asked astonished. He turned to Rhebpi. "That better not be the crow-woman that took your shield."

"It is!" Rhebpi said. "She took my feather too!" He turned to show off his little bald spot on his wing.

"Get in the Deporter, R." Crodia said, looking at the video. "I don't know what that monster of a goddess is planning, but we need to stop it and get our time shield back!" He turned. "R, where are you?"

"C'mon let's go!" Rhebpi said from inside the Deporter! "I have some business with that crow that I need to take care of!"

"That's the spirit!" Crodia said, punching in numbers. "Next stop: Lilianna's Realm of Darkness!"


	8. 1-7

The Angel

1.7

**Queen Lilianna's Realm of Darkness (Lilianna's Castle)**

"Myra, come quickly!" Lilianna said as she morphed into her human form. She had skin paler than a vampire, lips that could be made of blood, and long, long, black hair that seemed to be made of antimatter, just as the castle she resided in was. "Myra, come hurry!" She repeated. Myra, in a prison jumpsuit, hustled into the room.

"My queen…" Myra said, giving a courtesy, and averting her eyes.

"Myra, why isn't the potion ready yet?" Lilianna asked in a sweet, yet sarcastic tone. She held up the feather she had plucked off of Rhebpi's wing in a glass case. "That Angel certainly was quite the loyal fighter wasn't he?" She rhetorically asked as she stroked the glass. "Imagine all his power…and more!"

"I know, my queen…" Myra said. "You told me already."

"Don't you think Lord Crodia would absolutely _hate_ it for me to obtain such power?" Lilianna asked lustily.

"Well…um…"

"Of course he would!" She snapped at Myra, her tone changing to anger. "Crodia might be young and inexperienced for a god, but he's no fool! He knows how bad it would be for me to regain control of the cosmos! There's no doubt in my mind that he's sending his little Angel messenger boy here right now! If we don't finish that potion in time, it's the end of our plan! And _that_ means that I won't be able to teach you the magic that no one has _ever_ written down on the page. You'll be a goddess! And rule with me! Now, return to your potion, and have it ready for the Angel's feather soon!"

"Yes, my queen!" Myra said grinning, as she got up and ran through the door to return to her potion.

**Queen Lilianna's Realm of Darkness (Different Location)**

"You're in a Goddess's realm now, R." Crodia's voice echoed. "being in a realm of the gods, I can easily communicate with you telepathically like this, now let's get that shield of yours! As you so boldly say all the time, 'C'mon, let's go!'"

"I hear you loud and clear, Lord Crodia!" Rhebpi said as he flew through the area filled with darkness and floating ruins. "This place feels strange…Is time even flowing in this area?"

"Good catch, R." Crodia said. "Time doesn't exist in this realm, and from the looks of it, space is fleeting away pretty quickly too. Soon all that's left will be perpetual darkness and antimatter."

"That's awful!"

"Lilianna likes it that way."

"Hey, Lord Crodia, who exactly _is_ Lilianna?" Rhebpi asked. "And what did she do to get thrown into Tartarus?"

"Well, R… Lilianna is the goddess of Darkness and Chaos. Before the creation of the universe, she had complete rule over everything. She sees the universe as her archenemy and would like nothing more, I'd imagine, than to destroy it and revert back to the old ways before the universe even came into being. It seems as though she's already begun to spread antimatter all over her realm."

"She doesn't sound like the most pleasant goddess of the bunch…" Rhebpi said, continuing to fly through the emptiness. "Still, Lord Crodia, what did she _do_?"

"She was the main leader of the gods and goddesses that wanted to skew time-space according to their own eyes, and she rose up a massive demon army using dark magic to help them in their fight. Thankfully, the few gods that remained loyal to keeping time-space safe were helped by just about every other mythical creature imaginable, including the Angels. We were able to defeat Lilianna and all the gods and goddesses she led and we trapped them all in Tartarus, the giant hole in the underworld, it's like our prison for deities."

"Well, how did Lilianna get out of Tartarus?" Rhebpi asked. "We need to fix that problem!"

"I don't quite know _how_ she got out of Tartarus, but I _do_ know that we _have_ to put her back in! She's one of the first goddesses to ever come into existence, and who knows what scheme she could be concocting? We have to get you to her castle ASAP!"

"Hear you loud and clear, Lord Crodia!" Rhebpi said. "There's no way I'm going to let the cosmos look like _this_!" He motioned around him to the perpetual darkness and the timeless ruins and the spreading antimatter. "Lilianna!" He shouted into the darkness. "I am the Angel whom you stole a shield and feather from, and you better watch your back, goddess of darkness, because I am coming for you, and believe me when I say: You are not going to get away with this! C'mon Goddess of Darkness and Chaos! Let's Go!" He shouted as he started to fly much faster than normal.

**Lilianna's Realm of Darkness (Lilianna's Castle)**

As Rhebpi approached the castle made completely of antimatter, he noticed a figure at the top. He felt as though it suddenly dropped 10 degrees, when the figure turned toward him. That must've been Lilianna. "Come in Angel…" She said. "I've been expecting you." She turned and gave a signal of sorts to someone out of sight and the giant antimatter castle doors opened. "I know you must be angry, but why don't you take a moment to explore the castle, and…find yourself." She said, hiding the urge to laugh.

Rhebpi landed, armed himself by shrinking his bow to throwing star form, and walked into the dark castle. "Welcome." A woman said. She was clearly an escapee from the prison break as she was in the familiar orange jumpsuit. She looked like she could have been a normal human, with white skin, brown eyes and hair, and a big smile, but two, or three tings rather, gave her identity as a demon away. The first was her long red tail with a triangular tip, which seemed to have ripped out of her jumpsuit, and the second and third things were her two small red horns appearing from her hair. "I'm Marideath. I'll be giving you a tour."

"No tours will be necessary Marideath." An all too familiar voice said. "You should go tend to your demon followers." Myra appeared in the hallway. Marideath looked at her and hissed, then went off on her way.

"Did you not learn anything from the conversation I had with you back in Bermuda?!" Rhebpi asked angrily, not happy in the slightest to see Myra yet again. He pulled his arm across his body and made ready to throw his throwing star. "Where is my shield?!"

"Calm down. Calm down." Myra said, maintaining her cool and not seeming nearly as scared of him as she was back in Bermuda. "I'll take you to Lilianna and she can explain everything to you."

*Later*

Myra led Rhebpi to a room at the top of a tower. It was overlooking a vast portion of the landscape of darkness. Standing at the window, was Lilianna, in her crow-woman get up. She turned around and morphed into human form at the sight of Rhebpi. "Ah yes…the Angel." She smiled. "I do sincerely hope you weren't hurt by the little sample of DNA I took back in Bermuda." She said gesturing to Rhebpi's wing's bald spot.

"Actually, it still stings." Rhebpi said seriously. "Angels have delicate wings. A goddess whose been around as long as you have should know that."

"Don't push me, you little runt!" She snapped angrily.

"Where is my shield?!" Rhebpi snapped back with the same anger.

"Here's your blasted shield, you whining child!" Lilianna threw Rhebpi's time shield on the ground, and as Rhebpi picked it up, he noticed it was all beat up and out of shape.

"What did you do to it?" He asked, half sad, half angry.

"I had Myra," She gestured to Myra who was now trying to sneak out the doorway unnoticed. "I had Myra clone it with magic! Why, it took a few tries sure, and I'm surprised it's still able to function in its condition, but what's important is that the _clone_ time shield is as good as ever!"

"You!" Rhebpi yelled as he turned on Myra. "You have _no_ idea what you just did, do you?!"

"Eep!" She ran out of the room. Rhebpi tried to chase after her, but Lilianna teleported, or at least that's what it felt like, and shut and locked the door. "You can't leave just yet Rhebpi." She said. The way she said his name…It felt as though that was the correct way to say it.

"I..prefer R." He said. "And why?"

"Well my sweet Angel, there's someone I still want to introduce you too!" she said sweetly. As she sunk into the antimatter wall and disappeared, leaving Rhebpi alone in the room.

"Hello?" Rhebpi asked. "Lilianna? Myra? Marideath?" None of them answered.

"Did you get the shield back yet R?" Crodia's voice asked.

"I did…" Rhebpi nodded. "But it's badly damaged. Think you can fix it if I send in back up via Returner?"

"Rhebpi, the Returner is for you to beam yourself back up! If you beam the shield back up, you might not get into the Heavens again for a while?"

"Lord Crodia!" Rhebpi said in a joking manner. "I believe that my job requires me to take care of the balance of the universe! How the hell am I supposed to do that when my damn tools are broken?"

"Well put, R." Crodia said. "Statements like those are what make me proud that I chose you as my sole Angel. But while we're on the subject of Angels: How would you feel about another one joining our little team?"

"Lord Crodia, I don't think this is the time-"

"I asked you a question R!"

"I suppose it would be ok." Rhebpi said thinking. "But I'm more of a work alone type of Angel. I wouldn't want another one to follow me around."

"Don't worry R, nothing like that will happen. I mean, she'll have to tag along with you for a mission or two to get the hang of it, but then she'll operate on her own, just like you do, or, an alternative: I'll give her missions, and leave you to tackle the places you want to go!"

"It's sort of like I'm being promoted when you put it that way!" Rhebpi said cheerfully. "Ok, here comes the shield!" He threw the returner against the floor, and threw the shield in. "did you get it?"

"No!" Crodia said. "R, the antimatter must've interfered with the Returner! You just lost the shield again!"

"Oh come on!" Rhebpi said throwing his arms up in the air.

"Now, now, I had no clue antimatter could do that." Crodia said. "I supposed part of this is my fault. But it's ok. It's not in the hands of an evil mastermind. Let's just start looking for it. We should find it eventually."

"I want to stop whatever Lilianna has planned…" Rhebpi said. "Besides the shield is broken, no one can use it if they found it. Liliana has already made copies of the shield though, and I think it's important to find out why."

Crodia sighed. "Very well R." He said. "I'll let you deal with this first, but remember that Lilianna is crafty. If she's made _copies_ of the time shield, imagine what else she could have made copies of!"

"Wait, you don't think she made a copy of herself did you?" Rhebpi asked. "Or worse, that awful Manda dragon-thing?"

"No…" Crodia said. "Lilianna is far to devious and crafty to be shallow enough to clone herself or anything as destructive as a beast. She probably didn't clone herself because, knowing herself, they would betray each other constantly. Wait a minute…how is she cloning things?"

"Myra's here too!" Rhebpi said. "Apparently she knows the recipe for a potion that creates clones."

"This is bad." Crodia said. "R, I'm going to send in a few Angels for back up for you ok? I'm only looking out for you. If Lilianna manages to kill you, since she's a goddess, you won't be regenerating…"

"Of course…" Rhebpi said.

"I'm going to send back up now." Crodia said. "I'll lose communication with you with all the other minds around. Stay strong R!"

"I will, Lord Crodia!" Rhebpi said looking up. He looked around his empty cell of a room. "How could this possibly get any worse?!" He angrily shouted into oblivion.

Just then the door burst open, and Rhebpi knew exactly how it could get worse for him: this.

Standing in the doorway was Lilianna. By her side was an Angel. He was Rhebpi's height, with black, soulless eyes, dark black hair in the same style as Rhebpi's, and instead of white wings, his wings were black, and seemingly made of the same antimatter occupying Lilianna's hair and the castle, as did his clothes.

"Time for introductions!" Lilianna said. "Rhebpi, this is Dark Rhebpi. I like to call him Ipbehr." She gained a wicked grin. "Now, Ipbehr, strip your copy of his wings and sever him from The Heavens forever!"

Rhebpi quickly shot a space-time hole into the wall of anti-matter. He didn't know where it led but ran through, and Ipbehr followed in hot pursuit. Yet, just before the portal closed, Myra also managed to creep her way through.


	9. 1-8

The Angel

1.8

**Area Unknown, Time Unknown,**

Rhebpi landed with a thud on the ground of an open plain. It was foggy out, he could barely see 10 yards ahead of him. Looking around, he noticed a sole tree off to the west, or at least what he thought was the west. "I could find a hollow spot in that tree…" Rhebpi said to himself as he looked around to make sure no one was near him. He began to run towards the tree, but stopped. He had heard other footsteps while he ran. He began running again, and again, the other footsteps started up. He stopped. They stopped. Reluctantly, Rhebpi readied a combat arrow. He heard the sound of another bow and arrow coming from the fog. He pointed the arrow in the direction of the noise and shot it. He ducked to make sure any arrow coming his way wouldn't hit him, but he heard a collision about halfway between him and the other noise. The arrows must have collided with each other.

Rhebpi ran to pick up his arrow, which he saw on the ground, no other arrows in sight, but just as he reached out to pick it up, another hand grabbed it, Rhebpi looked up and there was his clone, Ipbehr, who had been sent by Lilianna to kill him.

"What are you touching my arrow for?" They both asked each other in unison. "Your arrow? This is my arrow!" The both said again. "Fat chance! Go look somewhere else!" They both countered. "Wait, you're not going to fight me?" The both asked stunned. Rhebpi finally broke the unison.

"I'm running _from_ you. Why would I be willing to fight you?"

"Don't play dumb with me." Ipbehr said holding him his time-sheild. "Once you get your version of _this_ back, you're going to fight not only me, but everyone back in Lilianna's Realm…Speaking of which," His eyes lit up. "I wonder what all those Angels sent as back-up will do when the one that they're backing up isn't even there!"

"Oh, it certainly doesn't bode well for them, does it R?" Asked Myra, who had now stepped out of the fog. Ipbehr looked at her and then at Rhebpi and smirked. He took his hand off of the arrow on the ground and stood up.

"It's two to one now." Ipbehr said. "You are outnumbered."

"I've been in worse situations." Rhebpi said, also getting up, and readying the arrow that was on the gorund.

"That's where you're wrong R…" Myra said, her hand was glowing a fiery red. She motioned for Ipbehr to leave, and he shot a time-space arrow in the floor and jumped through.

"No!" Rhebpi yelled. He ran after him, but just before he reached the portal, Myra shot a fireball at him. It hit him right in the chest and knocked him backward. By the time he got up, the portal was closed.

"Dark R was created by _my_ potion." Myra said. "He's not a clone of you, he's only like you, only much stronger. You wouldn't have stood a chance."

"If he's just like me…" Rhebpi said breathing heavily. "If he's just like me then why isn't he fighting you guys? If he really is like me, his allegiance _should_ be to no other god than Lord Crodia!"

"Oh, you are still so very naïve…" Myra giggled as she began to levitate and shoot more fireballs at him, which he was now barely dodging. "I didn't think that after _all_ this time you'd still act like the same Angel that wouldn't wake up for eight years!"

"In my defense, that wasn't too long ago for me!" Rhebpi said. "Okay, continue!"

"Dark R isn't a clone of you, he _is_ you! He's you from a parallel universe! He is the strongest version of _you_ there is!" Myra cackled.

The words hit Rhebpi like a bullet. It can't be…Angels exist outside of space and time so how can there be another one of him that isn't a clone? For the first time in his much longer than most know life, he doesn't know what to think. Then, there's the matter of all the Angels that Crodia is sending to Lilianna's realm to help him, without him there, they won't be able to do that, and most likely will end up captured, and if Lilianna is really as mean and cruel as she seems, they're also going to end up dead.

**Lilianna's Realm (Lilianna's Castle)**

"This is the place." The head of the Angel back-up squad said. "R is in there somewhere, and we need to help him." He got out a map. ""his is what we've been able to make of Lilianna's Castle so far." He said. "Hiptania, you take your squad to the top floors!"

"Yes sir!" said a female angel clad in armor. Hiptania turned to her squad. "Alright women, we can do this!" She said as she lifted up a staff.

"Yes sir!" her squad said and the 31 of them took flight and flew into the castle.

"Ok men…" The head Angel turned to the rest of the squad. "You guys split up. I'm going on ahead to help search for anything to lead us to R!"

"Sir…" An Angel raised his hand.

"What is it Boris?" the head Angel asked.

"Well, Head Posvid…" Boris said. "Why exactly are we helping R? He hasn't exactly ever helped the Angel Army ever…"

"He's never been _in_ the Angel Army! He was recruited to be Crodia's pet before he was even old enough to join the double A!" Another Angel burst out.

"Yeah, how come this kid gets special treatment? What about the rest of us that must spend all eternity fighting to keep The Heavens safe?"

"Ok…" Posvid said. "I want you all to ZIP IT!" Everyone instantaneously went quiet. "I _know_ that you must feel resentment for having defended the home of this Angel all your lives and now that you have to go rescue him, you're pretty angry. I get it. I do…but if I hear another one of you complain that R doesn't do anything, or that he's Crodia's pet, one more time, I swear to the oldest and wisest gods out there that I will _personally_ throw you into Tartarus!"

"But-"

"No buts!" Posvid yelled. "You think defending The Heavens is easy?"

"No sir…" The Angels said.

"Exactly!" Posvid hollered. "Now try to imagine protecting _all_ the realms, by _yourself_! _That_ is what R is doing! That is what he's been doing since the Great Battle of the Gods! He's already plenty of millennia old, a full grown-Angel like the rest of us! This is the _first_ time he has _ever_ been successfully captured. He alone runs around protecting the universe so the _least_ we can do is try to help him! Does anyone have any objections?"

Silence.

"I said…Does anyone have ANY objections?!" Posvid shouted again.

"Sir No Sir!"

"That's better…" Posvid said. "Now let's go find R, and help out our fellow Angel!"

**Area Unknown, Time Unknown**

"What's wrong little Angel?" Myra asked sarcastically as she saw how devastated Rhebpi looked. "Did you realize how irrelevant your endeavors are?"

"Why Myra?" He said looking up. "Why are you doing this?" He wanted to be angry, he wanted to stand up and be intimidating like back in Bermuda, but he couldn't. He was too angry at himself for basically signing away the lives of who knows how many Angels? "Why would you want to cause the destruction of the universe?"

"Oh…dear boy, we aren't _destroying_ the universe…" Myra said. "We're merely _replacing_ it with one that's full of darkness and chaos. One without time flow or space expansion."

"But… if parallel universes exist, and apparently Dark R is proof that they do, then why don't you just go there, what do you benefit from all of this unnecessary work?" Rhebpi asked confused.

"In _that_ universe, I don't have a quiet place to practice magic!" Myra said.

"You won't have anywhere to do anything if you just destroy the universe!" Rhebpi countered. "Besides, you _had_ a quiet place to practice magic, and if you really want, I can find an even quieter place for you, but why would you turn to the most evil beings in the world for help?"

"Well, people fear bad, R." Myra said matter-of-factly. "And fear can make people do whatever you want, but people won't fear you if you stand for goodness. Does anyone fear you?"

"No one good fears me…" Rhebpi said. "But I guarantee you that if you keep up this act, anyone you're aligned to most certainly _will_ fear me! You're correct Myra, fear can make people do strange things, but we aren't dealing with a person now are we?"

Myra is speechless.

"We're dealing with ME!" Rhebpi said getting up, and flying to where Myra was. "I'm an Angel!" his wings started to glow. The fog lifted and soon the tree came into full view. It was a blue spruce tree, decorated with holiday decorations. Now Rhebpi knew the day.

**Area Unknown, Christmas Eve. (Sometime in C.E.)**

"And while fear may be powerful, there is one thing that can best it! Something that all good things have! Angels have hope! Hope can defeat fear, and it just so happens to be my _most_ powerful weapon! You could've had such a wonderful lifetime of learning magic Myra…" Rhebpi said as his eyes became empty. "But you have pushed me over the edge. I don't intend to let you go unpunished this time!"

"Oh, bring it on, Chicken Little!" Myra said, igniting her fists.

Rhepi readied an arrow, and then Myra shot a fireball. Rhebpi flew out of the way just in time, and launched the arrow at her, but she lifted her hand and created some sort of protective shield that bounced the arrow off. Myra jetted toward Rhebpi and armed herself with a katana. Rhebpi flew out of the way, and split his bow into two smaller swords. He then charged toward Myra, aiming to cut the katana out of her hand, but she easily moved out of the way. She swung down again and would've chopped Rhebpi's head clean off, had he not expertly blocked himself with his swords. The floated there, in the air, making the night sky as bright as it had ever been.

"You must pay for your actions!" Rhebpi said, pushing up as hard as he could.

"You cannot interfere with our plans!" Myra said, pushing equally as hard downward.

The two stayed there for hours, and a whole separate battle of humans had broken out from under them, each side fighting in hopes that their favorite figure in the sky would win.

"Do you see what you keep doing?" Rhebpi asked. "This fighting and bloodshed is _all_ because of YOU!" Myra suddenly stopped exerting pressure and stepped back. The two armies on the ground stopped fighting and looked up.

"Y…..You're right…" She said looking down. "…It is all my fault. I'm the one who broke Lilianna out of Tartarus! I'm the one who led her to you and gave her your shield, heck, I'm even the one who suggested we use my potion to create one of you for our side, and most of all I didn't listen to the warnings you were trying to give me!" She pouted. Then, Myra did something Rhebpi wasn't expecting her to do. She started to cry. "Look at all of this fighting!" She said through tears gesturing everywhere. "I don't want to be responsible for anyone's death!"

"M-Myra.." Rhebpi said as his wings stopped glowing, and his eyes returned.

"All I wanted…" Myra continued. "All I ever wanted was a spot for me to be alone and practice my magic…Now I've turned thousands of innocent men into animals, and I've killed thousands in the past few hours! I'm a monster! And the worst part is I don't have any way to correct what I've done!" Myra threw a fireball at the tree, and it lit up the top, like a star.

The humans on the ground looked up and said plenty of Oohs and Ahs. Rhebpi flew toward Myra. "Myra…" he said, he seemed as though he might cry too. "I'm proud of you."

"For what? Doing all of _this_? The universe is going to be destroyed!"

"No it isn't." Rhebpi said. "Besides, that's not why. I'm proud of you because you realized what you were doing was wrong. Do you know how many people I've met, human or not, who have ever been brave enough to admit something like that?" Myra shook her head. Rhebpi smiled. "The answer is a very, _very_ select few." He said. He noticed how torn up Myra's robe was. "I'm glad you're sorry for all this. Are you cold?"

Myra nodded. On the ground, all the humans that were fighting on Rhebpi's side of the field asked whoever they were fighting on Myra's side the same thing, to which they all nodded as well.

Rhebpi put his arm around Myra, and flew her up toward the tip of the tree. "Well, you know what they say!" Rhebpi said with a smile. "Oh the weather outside is frightful…" He sang.

"But the fire is so delightful…" Myra sang with a bit of a smile, wiping her face of any tears.

"And since we've no place to go…" Rhebpi's people sang.

"Let it snow, Let it snow, Let it snow!" Myra's people finished up as Myra shot a beam up into the sky, causing it to snow.

"Oh it doesn't show signs of stopping," Everyone sang. "And I've brought some corn for popping, the lights are turned way down low…" They sang as Rhebpi blew out the fire at the tip of the tree. "Let it snow….Let it snow…Let it snow!" Rhebpi flew Myra, now in a dreary state, down to the ground.

"We all need some sleep!" He said to the people. "In the morning, she and I will have to leave, but thank you all for this fond memory!"

After a few cheers, the humans took Rhebpi's advice and they all fell asleep.

*Next Morning*

"R…R wake up…" Myra said shaking Rhebpi awake.

"Where did everyone go?" He asked.

"Back to their respective countries." She smilied. "We stopped a war."

"It feels good doesn't it? Stopping something bad?" Rhebpi asked sitting up. Myra nodded.

"It feels much better than anything I've felt in a long time."

"How would you like to help me stop the destruction of the universe?" Rhebpi asked.

"I think I know how to get you started!" Myra smiled as she handed Rhebpi none other than his time shield.

"Oh my goodness!" Rhbepi jumped up. "How did you even find this?"

"Well, as it so happens, one of the soldiers had it. Family heirloom he said. Been around since ancient times. Someone must've fixed it too, because I've been talking with that patron deity of yours all morning."

"Lord Crodia?" Rhebpi said into the shield.

"Oh, R!" Crodia said. "Thank Heavens you're alright! Don't worry, I've been talking with Myra and all the other Angels should be heading your way right now!"

Just as he said that, all the Angels sent for back-up were now flying down from the sky. "There they are!" Posvid said. "Alright Angels, commence landing!"

"What's this?" Myra asked Rhebpi as all the Angels landed.

"This is the Angel Army!" Rhebpi said gleefully. "Known by all Angels affectionately as the Double A! They are, in short, an inspiration to Angels everywhere!"

"Oh, sir, I'm afraid your confusing us with yourself!" Posvid said, kneeling before him. "Posvid, Head of the Double A at your service!"

"It truly is my honor, sir." Rhebpi said, having Posvid get back up. "I'd be working for you, if I wasn't abducted by Crodia before I could join."

"Hey!" Crodia's voice said through the shield. "You're back on Earth so I _can_ communicate you jerk!"

"I'm joking!' Rhebpi said, delighted that everyone was alright.

"So R, where to now?" Posvid asked.

"Well." Rhebpi said. "There's only one way to destroy a universe, and that's to prevent it from happening."

"You don't mean-!" Posvid said standing up.

"Yes!" Rhebpi said. "Prepare your men as best you can Posvid!" He said with a grin on his face. "Because we're going back to before the Big Bang!"


	10. 1-9

The Angel

1.9

**Area Unknown, Christmas Day, Year unknown C.E.**

"What?" Posvid, Head of the Double A asked. "How is traveling to back then even possible? Space wouldn't freaking exist yet! We can't use space-time arrows!" He was arguing against the idea of travelling back to before the Big Bang took place.

"That's a pretty good point he has, R." Crodia said in a joking manner, "How can you guys possibly get to that point in time without time-space arrows?"

"Why does he think this is funny?" Posvid asked Rhebpi.

"Posvid, good man, if we can't travel through space, we simply wont."

"What?"

"Here, just watch and learn." Rhebpi said rolling his eyes with a grin as he took out his shield.

"You can at least _explain_ what you're doing to us. We aren't the humans you're normally around…" Myra said, sort of pissed.

"I agree with the witch." Posvid said. "Tell us what's going on!"

"I'm a sorceress!" Myra snapped.

"Both of you shut it!" Rhebpi said over his shoulder. "If you really _must_ know, I'm trying to remember which third of the shield shows the past."

"You can't just voice command it like normal?" Crodia asked.

"It's not _completely_ fixed…" Rhebpi said. "A few millennia of doing nothing probably didn't help much either." Rhebpi tinkered with it until finally, a third of the shield clicked on. "Alright, here we go!" He said. "Now I just need to rewind back to the before the bigbang.

"I don't understand though…" Posvid said. "Nothing was here before the Big Bang, why, even the Great Battle of the Gods took place after the universe was created."

"True…" Rhebpi said. "But the gods were around before the universe, and if that's possible, we can be around before the universe too. We're angels, we can exist in timeless places, the same should go for space-less times… does that make any sense?"

"No!" Everyone shouted at once.

Rhebpi grinned. "Fantastic! Oh, the shields got a read."

"Great, we can see the nothing before space came into existence…" Posvid said. "It's not like we can just travel there now!"

"Wrong again!" Rhebpi said as he pushed the third of the shield showing the nothingness, and suddenly, a giant portal opened up in the ground.

Posvid turned and looked at Rhebpi. "How the hell did you do that?"

Rhebpi grinned. "Just _showing_ time wouldn't make it the most powerful shield in the universe would it?" He chuckled. "haha…I love my toys…Now c'mon Angels, let's go!" He said as he dove into the hole in the ground.

Posvid looked around at everyone else. "You heard the man, let's go!" he said as he jumped into the hole. "That's an ORDER!" He hollered. Upon hearing this the other Angels all dove into the hole as well.

"I think you might need to stay here…" Hiptania said to Myra before she jumped in the hole. "I don't know how well your being would handle a loss of space and substance, plus, we have about one hundred pissed off Angels, things could get messy."

Myra nodded. "Thank you." She said. "And good luck! I'll help any way I can!"

Hiptania nodded as she dived through the hole as well. After she dove into it, it closed up.

**Approximately eight Earth Days before the estimated time of the Big Bang**

"Alright, I trust everyone has weapons with them!" Rhebpi said with a grin as he saw Hiptania dive in and the portal close up.

"We're the Double A." Posvid said. "It'd be a crime if we _didn't_ have weapons!"

"Good…" Rhebpi said looking around. "It seems as though Ipbehr isn't here yet. That gives us time to go over our plan."

"Can the first item on the agenda be you explaining to all of us who Ipbehr is?" Hiptania asked, folding her arms. "We aren't going to help if you don't tell us all the details."

"Oh, I detest explanations…" Rhebpi said. "I suppose you could say that he's a rogue Angel, and that he allegedly is supposed to be the most powerful version of me…"

"So, let me see if I have this story so far:" Posvid said. "Your evil doppelganger is planning to create a universe of darkness and chaos, and to do that he's going to try and stop the Big Bang from happening…so instead of maybe one or two of us, you've called in a good half of the Double A to assist you in destroying him."

"No!" Rhebpi jumped up. "No, no, no destruction! He's a different version of me, but he's still me, and if he goes, so will I. And I don't think Crodia will find that all too appealing, am I correct?" He asked into his shield.

"The Dark Angel cannot die." Crodia agreed. "But if you can somehow trap him back in his own universe, anything to disable him and take away his potential to do harm, that would be ideal."

"Ok…so I'm assuming you have a plan?" Hiptania questioned Rhebpi.

"Of course I have a plan! What kind of Angel do you think I am?"

"Well…." Posvid said waiting. "Are you going to _tell_ us this plan?"

"Oh, heavens no!" Rhebpi chuckled. "If you found out what it was before I set it in motion, it would be totally ruined. You'd hate the very idea of it! Besides, you're a smart bunch. You'll be able to figure out the plan when I start it."

"Good gods I hope you're right…" Posvid said as he polished his bow.

"Posvid, my friend…" Rhebpi said as a hole opened up above them and they all readied their weapons. "I'm _always_ right."

Ipbehr flew through the hole, and almost as if he was expecting the flurry of arrows, he dodged each one with complete success, not even paying attention to any of the Angels, he flew in straight for Rhebpi. The both floated there for a while, until Ipbehr finally broke the silence.

"How sad…" he said looking around. "You knew you couldn't defeat me on your own so you cried to the other, more capable Angels to help you." He snickered. "But you saw that pitiful display. It's a wonder how the Angel army was able to protect The Heavens for so long."

"Is he insulting us?" Posvid asked, angrily. "The Angel Army doesn't respond well to insults…"

"Ipbehr you can't do this!" Rhebpi protested. "If you cancel the creation of the universe, ALL of space-time will become out of whack!"

"That's exactly what I want!" Ipbehr said angrily. "It will be a universe full of Darkness and Chaos, the most powerful things in the Cosmos!"

"That is ENOUGH!" Rhebpi shouted as his wings started to glow. "I have HAD IT with the Darkness and Chaos being powerful bit! What's worse, is that you say that good things like Hope and Unity are for the weak! That simply isn't true!"

"It _is_ true!" Ibpehr countered as his wings began to also glow, only not glow brighter, but got darker, and they seemed to radiate the darkness. His eyes, instead of becoming completely white, became completely black. "It has _always_ been true, since the dawn of time! Look around you! Before there was light, there was _Darkness_!"

"R!" Hiptania flew toward him, who had his head in his hands. "R, what's going on?"

"Hiptania, stand back." Rhebpi said. She listened and flew away from him. "He's right…" Rhebpi said shaking. "Before light, there _was_ darkness, but he forgot to mention…" Rhebpi flew up and turned his head upward, his eyes were not only white, but were glowing as well, and when he opened his mouth to talk again, light protruded from it as well. "He forgot to mention that Light is what banished Darkness! It has _always _banished darkness and it always will! Angel Army, hear my plea! Fight this rogue who dares disturb the balance of our universe! Do not let him win under ANY circumstances!"

"That's what you think!" Ipbehr said. "Demons, attack!" Suddenly another hole opened in the sky, and around 100 red little demons flew down, and each attacked a different Angel soldier. Marideath herself went after Hiptania, while another important looking demon came after Posvid. Ipbehr split his bow in two, and Rhebpi did the same. They both charged at each other.

"You are never going to win!" Ipbehr said. "You never can! I'm the strongest one of _you_ there is!" He mocked.

"The more you say that…" Rhebpi countered, as he dodged one of Ipbehr's swords. "The more resolve I have to fight you! Anyone who keeps bragging about how strong they are, always has some weakness!"

"You aren't going to find any weakness of mine!" Ipbehr smirked. "I'm you! Even if you did find a weakness, we _both_ know that I'd just regenerate! Nothing is going to be able to stop me!" He laughed as he blocked Rhebpi's swords with his own.

Below, the Angels and demons were fighting each other, the demons using longswords, and the Angles were using weapons similar to Rhebpi's and Ipbehr's. "Don't expect me to go easy on you because you're a little girl!" Marideath hissed at Hiptania.

"You better not have just called me a little girl, you satanic beast!" Hiptania shouted as she charged at Marideath who came running at her full speed. The collided weapons, and suddenly sparks appeared. Marideath knocked away one of Hiptania's swords with ease, causing Hiptania to tumble over.

"Give it up, you weakling…" Marideath said floating toward Hiptania, readying her sword to behead her. "You shouldn't have joined the Double A. Everyone else is still fighting, and you- you've done _nothing_ to help anyone. You're worthless. Your head wouldn't sell for more than a dime." She grinned.

"You…" Hiptania started to growl, and her wings started to glow like Rhebpi's. "You take that BACK!" She flew up, and her eyes were also an empty white.

"Never!" Marideath yelled as they charged for each other again, this time, even though Hiptania only had one of her two small swords left, they seemed evenly matched.

"Fellow Angels! Fight with me!" Hiptania ordered as she knocked away Marideath's sword with her own, with so much force it made them both shatter. The two switched to hand to hand combat.

"Hiptania!" Posvid looked out of the corner of his eye and saw her, wings glowing and all. "R…" he said, dodging a blow from the giant demon he was fighting. "You guys need my help!" He kicked the demon in the gut, and made it shoot backward as his wings also started to glow. "Angel Army! Reach inside yourselves!" He yelled as all the Angels fought various demon underlings. "Look inside your hearts! You are fighting for what is right! You cannot afford to lose this battle! Reach deep down and pull out the enormous power at your centers! This is a now or never battle! We all need to give it our all!" Posvid's eyes became the same white emptiness that Rhebpi and Hiptania had, and as the giant demon came running toward him again, he blocked the blows the demon swung at him with ease.

Rhebpi and Ipbehr continued to evenly match each other above all the others fighting, and in the center as well. "Do you really think that getting your Army all riled up is going to make a difference in the end?" Ipbehr smirked. "In the end it all comes down to you versus me, and when we both give it our all, _I'm_ the one who comes out on top! You aren't going to stop me from stopping the Big Bang!"

"Oh really?" Rhebpi smirked back as more Angels battling started to glow. "Don't you feel it getting hotter?" He joked.

"I do.." Ipbehr said. "It's the presence of the demons though. Trying to scare me with false facts won't work!"

"That heat isn't heat though…" Rhebpi said. "You're from a universe where the most powerful state of an Angel emits a cold darkness…so in this universe…an Angel at his or her most powerful would not only emit heat, but-"

"Also light…I suppose." Ipbehr said. "But that isn't enough to defeat the Demon Army! And it certainly isn't enough to defeat me!" He said, as more Angels started to glow and tapped into their power.

"Imagine though…" Rhebpi said, effectively dodging another one of Ipbehr's attacks. "If a whole bunch of different radiations of these came into contact with each other...say I don't know…100 of them?" Rhebpi grinned as Ipbehr realized what Rhebpi was implying about the Angel army. A few more Angels started to glow. Only 5 remained.

"If all those radiations collided, all at the same time…" Rhebpi continued. Fire started to burn where most Angels were fighting. 4 Angels had yet to start glowing.

"You can't be serious!" Ipbehr was shocked. 3 Angels still hadn't started to glow yet.

"Oh I am!" Rhebpi said. "Once all those radiations collide will create a massive explosion! One that could only possibly be described as…" 2 Angels were still not glowing.

"A Big Bang…" Ipbehr said. One Angel remained unglowing.

"Exactly!" Rhebpi said as the fire that their collisions had created grew to be of gigantic size. "You came her to prevent the Big Bang, but instead, you helped cause it! And it should…" Rhebpi looked down at the last Angel. "It should be starting at just around…"

The last Angel flew up. Rhebpi gave Ipbehr a huge grin. "NOW!" He shouted as the last Angel started to glow. All of a sudden, the fires all over the place shrunk down and cumulated into a single tiny point.

"Haha!" Ipbehr said, looking at the small point of space that was created. All the Angels barring Rhebpi came out of their glowing state disappointed. "You failed so miserably!" Ipbehr laughed. "Demons, come here look at this!" He gathered all the demons around the one spot. The light returned to him. Now Rhebpi was the only one still glowing. "Isn't it so puny?" Ipbehr asked the demons in disbelief. He looked up at Rhebpi, who was smiling. "What the hell are you so happy about?" He asked. "You lost! It's over!"

"Did I really?" Rhebpi asked with a grin. He held out three fingers.

"What do you mean?" Ipbehr asked. Rhebpi now put one finger down.

"Two…" he muttered.

"Two…two what?"

"One…" Rhebpi said. Ipbehr's face turned pale.

"Uh-oh…" He said, as he realized what was happening.

"Oh yeah…" Rhebpi agreed. "Uh-oh." Suddenly, the small dot went through a massive explosion the size of twelve nuclear bombs mashed up into a giant entity. Everything went white. The Big Bang had happened.

**The Heavens**

All the Angel Army stood celebrating their victory. "That was _amazing_!" Hiptania said as she hugged Rhebpi. "It's no wonder why Crodia chose you as an apprentice."

"Hardly an apprentice…" Rhebpi said joyously.

"More like a co-worker!" Posvid excitedly exclaimed as he shook Rhebpi's hand vigorously. "Heavens bless you sir! You just saved the universe!"

"Oh, I couldn't have done it without all of your help, my friend." Rhebpi said. "You, and your men!"

"Seriously though, using that shield at the last minute? How did it manage to protect all of us?"

"It's the most powerful shield in the universe, how is no one getting this?" Rhebpi turned to Crodia at a loss.

"Well, you can't be too celebratory.." Crodia said seriously. "While you might've transported everyone back to The Heavens safely, I'm sure Dark R has safely transported the demons as well."

"Well…" Rhebpi said, opening a bottle of Nectar, the drink of the gods. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it! For now, we deserve some relaxation!"

"Sounds like a plan." Myra called over from her new desk of magic with a smile. "Glad you're safe, R."

"Speaking of…" Posvid said nudging Rhebpi. "Was that really your plan back there? Using the power of the Angels like that? How did you come up with something so brilliant?"

"Oh…you are going to hate me for this…I winged it!" He said cheerily.

"Hahaha." Posvid laughed, but then he realized what he had just been told. "wait, you _WHAT_?!"

"Uhh…Can't talk now!" Rhebpi said, making an excuse to get out of the conversation. "I'm a very busy Angel." He said as he got inside the Deporter.

"What you're just going to leave your own victory party?" Hiptania urged him to stay.

"Oh, you guys…" Rhebpi said. "When you're _me…_it's _always_ a victory party!" he waved goodbye to everyone. "Bye everyone!" He said as they all waved back. "I had a lot of fun. I hope to see you all again sometime, but hopefully on a brighter note."

"I don't know R…" Myra said. "The Big Bang is just about as bright as it gets…besides I think the expression is 'lighter note'."

"Is it?" Rhebpi asked. "Well now, I know what I'm doing next!" He said with a grin as he closed the Deporter door. "C'mon Lord Crodia…." He said with a wide smile. "Let's Go!"


	11. 2-1

The Angel

2.1

**The Heavens**

"Ok…" Rhebpi said flying out of the Deporter doors. "Myra, you were right. The expression does go 'on a lighter note.'" He said. He noticed Crodia had shrunken himself down to a human size and he and Myra were standing shoulder to shoulder, clearly hiding something.

"I told you!" Myra said grinning. "But next time, you can at _least_ clean up the mess you and your Double A friends made!"

"Posvid was mad at me!" Rhebpi explained. "I sort of tricked him and the entire Double A into trusting me when I had no legitimate plan!"

"Oh, keeping secrets is bad R…" Crodia scolded. "Especially from an Angel…"

"Oh really…" Rhebpi said. "Then mind telling me what you two are hiding behind your backs?"

Myra gave Crodia a look. Crodia sulked. He turned to Rhebpi. "Well, remember back when I was talking about another Angel joining us, and about how I was talking about you being able to decide where you go?"

"Yes…." Rhebpi said, eager for Crodia to get to the point.

"Well…" Crodia said as he looked at Myra and the smiled. "Meet your new co-worker!" The two of them stepped out of the way to reveal an Angel. She was female, with straight brown hair that reached past her shoulders. On her back she had a quiver full of bows just like Rhebpi, and she even had a triangular shield like him!

"How the hell did you get-"

"Back when I worked for Lilianna…" Myra butted in. "I cloned quite a few copies of that shield, but we have all of them but Ipbehr's so don't worry. Crodia was working all week to try and fix one."

"And he was successful!" Crodia bellowed. "Alright, R. This is Llydinia." He said. "She was one of the top ranked soldiers in the Double A. She would've been sent as part of the back-up for you, but by that point I had already discharged her so that she could take this job."

"So…." Rhebpi said, not getting it.

"So I don't need any combat training, featherhead!" Llydinia said rolling her eyes.

"You realize I could call you the same thing right?" Rhebpi asked. Llydinia thought a moment.

"Touche…"

"Regardless of needing combat training or not…" Crodia said. "Llydinia still needs to tag along with you for a mission or two until she gets the general gist of what we're doing here. After that, you're free to go wherever and whenever you want R," Crodia said happily. "Provided you OK it with Myra first. She'll be helping you with the Deporter from now on."

"Like a secretary?" Rhebpi joked.

"Oh, shut up!" Myra said grinning.

"So, do you have anything in mind for a first mission, Lord Crodia?"

"Oh, nothing big…" He said. "Just a small town of people who won't let anyone pass through."

"Why not?" Llydinia asked skeptically.

Crodia looked at her. "If I knew why they wouldn't let anyone pass, I wouldn't be sending TWO Angels would I?"

Llydinia and Rhebpi looked at each other. "Is he always like this?" She asked annoyed.

"Oh, if only…" Rhebpi said looking off into the distance. "Alright, come on Llydinia, let's go!"

**Kalispell, Montana, USA, 1935**

Rhebpi and Llydinia flew out over the trees and started to circle around an incredibly small town. "Is that Kalispell?" Llydinia asked.

"Sure is…" Rhebpi said. "What year is it though?"

"Its…um…1935." Llydinia said, checking her shield. "R…how exactly do you _use_ this shield? I mean, I can get it to do all the basics but…"

"We both learn everyday Llydinia." Rhebpi said. "I'll help you with what you don't know about it, if you help me out with the same thing…"

"Some help you are…" She said.

"Some help _you_ are!" Rhebpi said back.

"I am _supposed_ to not be much help!" She said as she stopped flying and hovered in the air. "_You_ on the other hand should behave more experienced!"

"Y'know what, you're right…" Rhebpi said, stopping as well. "So first thing's first, I guess I should explain what it is that we actually _do_."

"That would be nice, yes." Llydinia said smiling.

"Look up'n the sky! Them two stars is movin!" They heard a southern voice say.

"Who was that?" Llydinia asked. A gun fired, and the bullet just barely missed Rhebpi's head.

"I don't know, and don't want to find out!" Rhebpi said. "C'mon let's get out of here!" They began to fly away.

"Hey! Dem stars is running away!" The voice said.

"Well, shoot'em agin!" a second voice ordered. Again, gunfire.

"Agh!" Llydinia said before she fell to the ground.

"Llydinia!" Rhebpi said, turning around to get to her. "I'm co-agh!" He fell to the ground too.

When Rhebpi finally came to, Llydinia was already awake. The two of them seemed to be in some kind of tent. "I hate shotguns." Rhebpi said, sitting up.

"Same here." Llydinia said, agreeing with him, rubbing her left foot. "My foot stings like a-"

"Your foot?" Rhebpi asked. "Um, look at my hand!" he held up his right hand. "I am so freaking lucky I'm left handed. It could be a while before this one heals!"

"Ok..point taken." Llydinia said. "I didn't take this long to complain about my foot."

"You would've…"

"Will you stop trying to argue? You always try to argue all the time!"

"Oh…now I can't win…." Rhebpi said, and he began to laugh.

"We're in a strange human's tent, who shot us by the way, and we're both injured, and whoever shot us could come in at any moment. What do you find funny about this?"

"You've been battling demons for far too long…" He said. "Watch this." He held out his right hand and it started to glow. Within a few seconds all the wounds on it had disappeared completely. "Just regenerate."

"I'm sorry, do what?" Llydinia asked confused.

"If I may butt in…" Crodia said through Llydinia's shield. "Angels don't normally have regeneration capabilities, R…" he explained. "When you 'regenerate', it's actually my doing. It's a perk you get for working for a god!"

"Now might be a good time to tell me what we actually _do_ R…" Llydinia said.

"Well…" Rhebpi began. "We go around time and space, either stopping problems from occurring, or helping solve them before they get out of hand."

"So, what you're saying is that we basically fix others' mistakes."

"Well, when you put it that way, it sounds dull and agonizing, but in a sense, yes…but we also protect the universe from evil, which has a habit…" Rhebpi trailed off as a figure approached the tent. "Of finding us around nearly every corner…" A man walked into the tent, and Rhebpi and Llydinia both jumped up into a fighting stance.

"No No, I don't want no trubble!" The man said. "I's surry fer shootin' y'all, It's just that after all that eerie howlin' we's hearin', just 'bout anything movin' scares us in this lil' ol' Hooverville."

"Hooverville?" Llydinia asked.

"First things first…." Rhebpi said. "When we get back, you need to go to Lord Crodia and ask him any questions about the goings on of time. If I remember correctly, he said that the thirties was a time of worldwide depression, and these little campsites full of homeless people were called Shantytowns and Hoovervilles. Second, that's not important. What we're here to investigate is the eerie howling."

"Well, we're in a pretty forest-y area." Llydinia said logically. "It could be a werewolf."

"It could be…" Rhebpi said nodding. "Werewolf is my first guess too…"

"What's all this talk about a werewolf?" The man asked. "We hearin' this howlin' e'ry night! Not just on full moons!"

"Wait a minute…" Rhebpi said, looking around. "Can you get me some branches from the trees in this area?"

"why sure I guess…" the man said.

"Then go, man go!" Rhebpi urged. The man ran out of the tent.

"What's the brilliant idea?" Llydinia asked.

"Well, back when I first started working for Lord Crodia, I had a similar first assignment to this one, only it was a little boy who was going ballistic and insisting there was a monster in his backyard."

"Was there?" Llydinia asked.

"Of course not! I'm trying to see if the same is also true for this place."

Llydinia rolled her eyes. "Even when humans aren't around, you still try so hard to keep up this whole 'superiority' act. I happen to have been the command of the Double A before I took this job, but you don't see me going around acting like I know more than everyone else!"

"Well, yes…" Rhebpi said. "That's because in this institution…you don't."

"What about you?!"

"I know more than you, and more than Myra, but I will never try to act superior to Lord Crodia."

"Careful, R…" Myra's voice said through his shield. "I'm the one you're stuck talking to on your missions now so if you don't want me to ruin your fun time, I suggest you stop pushing buttons."

Llydinia gave Rhebpi a victorious look as though she had won a battle. The man returned to the tent with a pile of tree branches, and was about to leave, when Rhebpi stopped him. "Wait, sir." He said. "You said that there was an eerie howling." The man nodded. Rhebpi picked up a small branch with leaves on it, and blew on it.

As Rhebpi blew on the branch it made a horrid deep screeching noise. "Whaaaaooooaaoohhhh."

"That's the howling noise!" The man said, taken aback. "How did you do that?"

"I see what's going on here…"Rhebpi said, putting, the branch back down. "Sir, there is _nothing_ dangerous in that forest, except maybe bears…but surely nothing supernatural. The howling you heard is _only_ the wind on the trees. It sometimes creates a sound, and in the dark, people often imagine the worst possible things. It's safe to let people through the town now."

The man smiled. "Thank you!" He said. "Awful sorry about shootin you two earlier, are you folks okay?"

"We're just fine, thank you." Llydinia said. She turned to Rhebpi. "Can we leave now?" She asked.

Rhebpi laughed. "Sure, but first you have to erase his memory of us."

"I don't want to erase his memory!"

"You have to…" Rhebpi said. "Unless you plan to stay here with him until he dies…" Rhebpi looked around. "Which now that I think about it, might not be too long…"

"Nah…I don't want to do that either, but why do we have to erase people's memory of us?"

"The last thing we want is for the people we _fix_ to end up in a mental institiution because they think they saw Angels." Rhebpi said. "I wish it didn't have to be that way, but-"

"Humans are just stupid." They both said together. They looked at each other and started laughing.

"Hey, Llydinia…" Rhebpi said.

"Since, you're R, can I be L?" She asked. "It sounds more team-y."

"Sure." Rhebpi said chuckling. "Anyway L, don't worry."

"Don't worry about what?"

Rhebpi grinned. "About anything." He said as they flew into the Returner together.

"Seriously?" She asked. Rhebpi nodded.

"Don't worry about anything, and you'll be even better at this job than me."


	12. 2-2

The Angel

2.2

**The Heavens**

"Alright R!" Myra said cheerfully. "This marks your first completely solo mission, so where do you want to go?"

"Actually Myra…" Rhebpi said as he walked into the Deporter. "Just send me to Culver City, California, 2013."

"Why?" Myra asked laughing. "There's nothing threatening to time-space happening over there back then!"

"I just created the damn universe, can I _please_ take this one time to relax?" Rhebpi pleaded.

"Oh, fine…" Myra said, punching in some numbers from outside. "Culver City, 2013 it is…but don't spend a whole lifetime there like you did with Emily Dickinson, Crodia wants to make sure you can be trusted on your own."

"Well…" Rhebpi said grinning as the Deporter doors closed. "He doesn't have much of a choice does he?" Myra rolled her eyes and smiled.

"Bon Voyage!"

**Culver City, California, USA, Earth, 2013 C.E.**

Rhebpi landed with a thud on the roof of a building. "Agh…" He said as he retracted his wings back into his back. "Hate those landings eh, L?" He asked, but he sulked when he realized that Llydinia wasn't there. "Right…" He reminded himself. "Solo…Where am I anyway?" He stood up and looked around. He noticed cameras all filming a small restaurant area on the ground.

"Maybe shooting a commercial, or something…" He said to himself. He checked himself to make sure he was wearing clothes that were normal in that time. Jeans, yes…but his shirt looked all ripped up because of his wings…oh well, it had to do. He stealthily made his way down the building almost completely unnoticed…almost.

"Excuse me!" A girl with long brown hair tied into two braids came up to him, clearly still in high school. "Why are you climbing the Pacific Theatre?"

Rhebpi, at a loss for words, jumped down and started to walk away.

"Hey!" The girl ran after him. "I asked you a question get back here!" She ran in front of him and cut him off. "What were you doing?!" She asked again.

"Getting off of the roof." Rhebpi answered with a nod. "Goodbye." He started to walk again, but the girl followed him.

"That's not a good enough answer!" The girl argued. "What were you doing on the roof in the first place? Is there anything going on up on the roof? Why is your shirt ripped like that? Do you see how many questions you're making me ask you? I'm Arlina by the way. You?"

"I go by R…" Rhebpi said still walking.

"R?" Arlina asked. "What kind of name is R? It must be short for something right? What's your _real_ name?"

Rhebpi took out a business card from his pocket, flipped it over, and wrote his name on the backside. Then handed it to Arlina. "No one can really pronounce it." He said. "So I just go by R." Rhebpi looked up, the sun was directly overhead. "It's noon. Shouldn't you be in school Arlina?"

"The School's closed today!" she said. "It's strange though, the closest school holiday is Presidents' Day, and that's still a few weeks from now!"

"Is it really?" Rhebpi said walking faster, Arlina changed pace with him. "Tell me Arlina, what's the date today?"

"It's January 25th, why? Don't you know the date?"

"It's a long story." Rhebpi replied. "But speaking of stories, have you heard any strange ones lately?'

Arlina thought as they kept walking down the same street. "Well, I'd suppose the strangest story I've heard recently is _your_ little story R…" She blocked him again. "Now, answer my other questions too!"

"You really don't give up on things do you?" Rhebpi asked, exhausted.

Arlina smiled sweetly. "Nope!"

Rhebpi sighed. "If I told you, you wouldn't believe me."

"I believe everything you've told me so far…" Arlina said.

"What you mean my _name?_" Rhebpi asked, again starting to walk rapidly. Arlina nodded as she walked rapidly with him again.

"Which proves how little you're telling me! Why in such a rush? Why is my school closed? Not that I'm complaining though, and oh my god what is _that?_" Arlina pointed at Rhebpi's shield. "Either you _really_ bent up your frisbee or you have something important. Who exactly _are_ you?"

"That's it!" Rhebpi said stopping, startling Arlina a tad. He turned to her. "A+ Arlina, A+! Who _am _I? Ha! It's brilliant!"

"Wha-what?" Arlina asked confused.

"Come on!" Rhebpi said as he took her by the hand and started to run.

"Ahhh! R…this is really….ow!...hurting my shin splints!" Arlina said as they ran. "Where are we even going?"

"Your highschool, of course!" Rhebpi grinned. "And shin splints? Never heard of them!"

"R, seriously, who _are_ you?!" Arlina asked as they turned a street corner.

"Ok, Arlina, I'll tell you, but I don't want to repeat myself so you better listen very carefully." Rhebpi said.

"Ok…" Arlina said. "I'm listening…"

"As you may by now be aware of, I'm not exactly from here."

"Obviously…" Arlina said.

"I'm not even from this planet."

"What?!"

"I'm an Angel!" Rhebpi said expanding his wings. "I'm not one of those biblical angels either, I'm a completely different race altogether. The one job I have is to travel across space-time making sure nothing disrupts it, and I also try to make certain events in space-time go as smoothly as possible!"

"You have _got_ to be kidding…" Arlina said. "That sounds _amazing_! Sort of like Doctor Who!"

"Doctor what?" Rhebpi asked. "Hang on tight Arlina!" He said as he began to fly.

"Whooo!" Arlina exclaimed as they flew into the air. "Yea, Dr. Who! It's a TV show about an alien who calls himself The Doctor and goes around with people through all of space and time in this machine called the TARDIS, do you have something like that?"

"I suppose that my 'TARDIS' would be the Deporter and Returner…" Rhebpi said. "Bace yourself, we're going to land." He landed and sat Arlina down on a patch of grass before sitting down himself. "I just throw the Returner against any matter at all and it transports me back to the Deporter in the heavens, where Myra is to open the doors to let me out."

"So is Myra an Angel too?" Arlina asked.

"Oh, Myra's not an Angel…she used to be a human like you…you _are_ human right?"

Arlina smiled. "The answer to that question can wait. So I still have a few questions, the first being, you _really_ haven't heard of shin splints?"

"Are they splinters in your shin?" Rhebpi asked sheepishly.

"They're when your shin muscles tense up!" Arlina exclaimed. "Hasn't that ever happened to you?"

"I fly everywhere…" Rhebpi said, motioning to his wings. "Legs don't get tense too often…"

"Ok…" Arlina said. "The second is, earlier you said it was brilliant that I asked you who you were…"

"That's right!" Rhebpi said, jumping up! "Yes, Arlina yes! A+! Who _am _I? Who am _I_? _Who_ am I? _Who am I_? Again! Brilliant!"

"Why is it brilliant?" Arlina asked impatiently, jumping up and following Rhebpi as he walked toward the school.

"Isn't it obvious, Arlina? The reason school's been closed? Tell me, have you heard any animal noises while at school?"

"I really haven't heard anything but crows…" Arlina said. "Why do you ask?"

"Your school has an outdoor campus…" Rhebpi said starting to speed up the pace of his speech. "An outdoor campus is so that the students can have a sense of nature when they study, and that means plenty of flora," Rhebpi looked at Arlina and grinned. "And plenty of fauna, am I right? Yes I am! But why? Why, I ask you are you suddenly not hearing the squirrels, or seeing the gulls, or even swatting at any bugs anymore? It's because something, or someone perhaps, has _taken_ them all somewhere, for observation clearly, as I'm sure if something truly bad was happening, I'd be called in here…"

"You mean you weren't to begin with?" Arlina asked. "Then why did you come here at all?"

"I don't know…" Rhebpi said. "It just felt right…" He said smiling. She grinned too. "Anyway," Rhebpi kept going. "And that's why your school is being closed, because whatever is in there, is currently right now, using all the school's technology to find out something it really needs to learn, a question so obvious but still so hidden…a question exactly like:"

"'Who am I?'!" Arlina concluded.

"Correct!" Rhebpi said pointing a finger. "And whatever is in there, I can help it! I'm an Angel, and that's what we do!"

"Yeah, good luck getting through the locked doors…" Arlina said rolling her eyes, but she gaped in awe when she saw Rhebpi holding one of the doors wide open. "How did you-?"

"I have a bow and around 30 arrows right now. Doors aren't much of a problem." Rhebpi grinned. "Isn't this fun? Alright, Andale Arlina, let's go!"

Arlina grinned and ran through the door.

After searching, Rhebpi and Arlina made their way to a biology classroom. "I can hear someone inside!" Arlina said with her ear against the door.

"Are you sure it's a someone and not a something?" Rhebpi asked as he pressed his head against the door as well.

"well, whatever it is, it knows English…"

"And look at this little roach…I can't possibly be any of you animals…I'm far too big…but what am i? I have a tail like you, little chipmunk…and I have antennae like you, Mr. roach… but what am I? Where did I come from? Where do I go from here? Questions that all need to be answered. Who am I? What am I? Where am I? Why am I?"

Rhebpi walked into the door. "And How are you?" He asked. Arlina slowly followed him into the room. "C'mon Arlina, let's go…" He said urging her to hurry along.

"R…what is that?" Arlina asked as she noticed the figure in front of them.

"That's a demon, Arlina…be careful. They're nasty things." Rhebpi said.

"I'm nasty? What did I do wrong?" The demon asked.

"I'm Arlina!" Arlina said. "Do you have a name?"

"I remember _a_ name." the demon said. "I don't know if it's mine or not. That name is Julus."

"Well, Julus…I'm R. I'm an Angel. Maybe we can help you…" Rhebpi gulped. "Help you get your memory back. You seem to be suffering from memory loss."

"R?" Julus asked. Something clicked in his mind…. "R!" He said again slightly agitated.

"Arlina…" Rhebpi whispered. "Reach into my quiver and throw an arrow as hard as you can at the wall…"

"What are you whispering to her?' Julus asked. "R…R! R! R! R! I know who you _are_!" He was angry now. "My memory loss, my separation from others of my kind…It was all you! YOU did this! You are solely responsible for the complete scattering of the _entire_ demon race! I remember! We were there before the universe began…and the force…oh that destructive force…it sent all the demons flying to the far reaches of the universe! Some beyond even! You can be sure though R, that we will stop at nothing to-"

"Yea yea, that's all _real swell_…" Rhebpi said mockingly. "But if you could just look behind you for one quick second…" Julus turned around and saw a giant space-time hole in the wall behind him.

"In you go!" Arlina said in a sweet mocking voice as the two of them pushed Julus into the hole.

"R! Before I go, I feel I should share some choice information I learned about you!" Julus said struggling to go through the hole.

"Like what?" Rhebpi asked.

"We _will_ meet again R! Demons will return! Earth is splitting! The core is the key! The Angel will fall! The Angel will fall!" He repeated it one more time before the hole closed on top of him. "The Angel will fall!"

*Later, outside*

Rhebpi threw the Returner disk against the wall of the building. He turned to Arlina, smiled weakly, and whispered. "Fun."

Arlina grinned. "That was amazing! You were amazing! It felt amazing!" She said cheerily. "How does this go unnoticed?"

"Well, this is my least favorite part…" Rhebpi said. "I'm done with the job so I need to take a new one, but we can't have my existence on Earth be that completely blatant, so I need to erase your memory of me…"

"What?" Arlina asked. "No way! I don't want to forget this! This was one of the most fun Fridays that I've had in a long time!"

"I'm sorry Arlina…" Rhebpi said. "But unless I stay here with you for the rest of your life, I have to erase your memory…"

"Why can't I just go back with you?"

"I'm sorry…what?" Rhebpi asked. "Do you realize how dangerous my job is?"

"Do you realize how dangerous my job is?" Arlina mocked. Rhebpi laughed. "All the more reason to bring me along! You heard what Julus said! The Angel he's referring to has to be you! Maybe I can help stop it! Come on! Please R…Please!"

"Ok…one trip!" Rhebpi said. "One adventure and then we come back here! I don't want anything bad to happen to you because of me!"

"You're the best!" Arlina said hugging Rhebpi. Rhebpi returned the hug and put his hands around Arlina. But he felt something strange and his mind dwelt on it as they went into the Returner together, because just like his torn up shirt, Arlina's also had the two long gashes in it…

**The Heavens**

"Whoa!" Arlina gasped as she saw how starry the sky was in The Heavens. "This place is awesome!"

"I'm going to go talk to Myra, have fun exploring the place." Rhebpi said as he left. "Remember to get some sleep if you can. Time doesn't have power over the Heavens so I never feels any later or earlier."

"Ok!" Arlina said as she waved to Rhebpi. She then ran to the Deporter…"Wow…" She said as she admired her reflection. Then, she looked to make sure no one around her was watching, and expanded her white wings. "This is going to be fun!" She said with a grin.


	13. 2-3

**Pennsylvania, 1778 C.E.**

"Wow!" Arlina exclaimed as she and Rhebpi walked out of the Deporter's doors. "Look at all the snow!"

"Valley Forge, Pennsylvania…" Rhebpi said looking around. "Incidentally, it's my favorite part of the American Revolution."

"Why is that?" Arlina aked.

"As of now…" Rhebpis specified as a shout was heard.

"Charlie no! You can't die on me! General Washington, we have another one over here!"

Rhebpi grinned. "As of now, it's my favorite because _we're_ a part of it! Haha, C'mon Arlina, let's go!"

The Angel

2.3

"And _why_ are we at Valley Forge during the revolution?" Arlina asked as the two of them started walking toward the Continental Army's camp. Rhebpi turned around and gave her a look.

"We could've gone somewhere else you know…You're the one who said Pennsylvania!"

"I didn't mean Valley Forge at wartime!" Arlina protested. "I meant somewhere peaceful like Philadelphia!"

"Oh, come on…" Rhebpi said grinning. "Where's the thrill in that?"

Arlina smiled. "Well then, if you're so much for thrill why did you come to Valley Forge? It isn't thrilling. It's actually kind of depressing."

"I came….I came because of that." Rhebpi said as he motioned for Arlina to look ahead of him. There she saw a man, around 6 foot two, in a powdered wig, and although he looked no different from any of the other shivering soldiers that she saw, she knew who it was.

"Come on men! It's only a few more weeks until the snow clears!" He said. "We can make it! Remember what we're fighting for! Think of a free America!"

"George Washington!" Arlina said back at Rhebpi, who nodded with a smile. "That man there… …is _George Washington_! THE George Washington! And he's right there!"

"He certainly is a great man." Rhebpi said. "A great being in general. It's the humans like him that keep me on the good side of humanity." Rhebpi put his hands on top of his head and just stared at the soldiers for a while. Then he turned to Arlina. "what do you say we introduce ourselves?"

Arlina smiled, and nodded.

**The Heavens**

"What's wrong Myra?" Crodia asked as Myra stood by the Deporter, inspecting the scene. "You've been staring at that spot for hours!"

"There's a small Angel feather here…" She said puzzled.

"Well, I don't see the problem with that. R, like all Angels occasionally molts his feathers."

"It isn't R's feather." She said seriously.

"What? How do you know?" Crodia asked puzzled.

"R's feathers are bigger than these. I know because I've seen one of his feathers up close before. I didn't always work for you remember?"

"Well, that _is_ strange…" Crodia said. "The only other Angel to use the Deporter is Llydinia and she's thousands of years older than R…her feathers are a good inch bigger than his."

"This one is really small though…" Myra said.

"Well don't worry about it." Crodia said. "If it's an Angel's feather, then why get worked up? Angels are naturally heroic and do what's right…I don't see a problem."

"I…suppose you're right…" Myra said. "I'd just like to know how some other Angel got in here. It's not like we just give Returner disks away is it?"

"No.." Crodia said, looking at the Deporter. "It's not…"

**Valley Forge, 1778 C.E.**

"Hello George!" Rhebpi said with a smile as he approached him, extending a hand to help the poor shivering man up. "I'm an Angel, nice to meet you!" He wrote 'Rhebpi' down on a piece of paper. "That's my name, no one can pronounce it, please don't make any lackluster attempts, instead just call me 'R'. And this my-"

"I'm Arlina!" Arlina said shaking Washington's hand. "It's a real honor to meet you sir! You were a really great president!"

"A what?" Washington asked.

"Arlina…He's still just a general in the revolution…no presidency talk." Rhebpi whispered.

"I meant general…sorry…" Arlina said. "Still I've heard many stories about you, such a great and modest man!"

"Oh come now!" Washington threw his hands up in the air.

"General Washington, are you all right?" A soldier came walking toward them. "Who are you two? And why do you not seem affected by this dreadful cold? Why, you're in less clothes than I am!"

"That's probably because we just came from California." Arlina replied. Washington looked at her quizzingly. "Is she alright in the head?" Washington asked Rhebpi.

"Hey!" Arlina said offended.

"She's fine." Rhebpi said. "Smarter than half of your men here." He said in a low voice with a smile. "Incidentally…"He said as he helped Washington up. "I couldn't help but notice that you aren't surprised in the slightest that I'm an Angel…"

"Well I'm not too surprised to see you." Washington said. "It's cold as heck here and we're clearly going to die soon. I figured you're here to take me up to heaven. Am I right?"

"Oh, you poor soul…." Rhebpi said as he started to walk Washington through his own campground. "Come with me. I have a lot to tell you. Arlina!"

"R!" She hollered back. "What?"

"Look after the soldiers! We'll be back soon!"

"Is she even a nurse?" Washington asked.

"Oh please…" Rhebpi said. "I don't even know what she is, but it definitely isn't a nurse."

"You're certainly painting me in a pleasant light…" Arlina said sarcastically as Rhebpi walked off with Washington. "How are we doing soldiers?" She asked as the two went out of sight.

The soldiers groaned.

"Loving that enthusiasm! Keep up the good work!"

"Excuse me miss…"One of the soldiers approached Arlina and tugged on her braid.

"Ah!" She turned. "What is it small soldier?"

"Well, some other soldiers and I were talking….we think we should call it quits."

"What? That's not something a soldier should ever say!"

*A short while away from camp*

"And so, Mr. Washington…you are not dead just yet. I'm only here as a tourist." Rhebpi explained.

"Well, that's a pity…" Washington said. "I thought my suffering was over…oh well…I guess I'll just go back to camp and die along with my troops."

"That is no way to talk, George my boy!" Rhebpi unhooked his shield. "You see this thing?"

Washington nodded.

"This is a shield that shows me the past present and future. Direct your attention to that third of the mirror at the top." Rhebpi said.

"Why, that's Saratoga up in New York!" He said. "It's on the verge of battle!"

"And now look at that third!" Rhebpi said pointing to the third that showed future events.

"I'll be damned…." George Washington said. "The continental army's won the battle."

"And that's not all!" Rhebpi grinned. "Do you recognize what this is?" The vision shifted to a ship docking against land.

"That's part of the French fleet!" Washington gaped. "They're helping us?"

"Well, not just yet." Rhebpi said. "They _could_ help you. The future is never set in stone, in most cases anyway, but I _do_ know that if the battle up at Saratoga isn't won, the French won't help, and I _also_ know that if your men don't tough it out through the winter here, the battle of Saratoga won't be won by the continental army!"

Washington just gaped in awe of what he had just seen and heard.

"Let's get you back to camp!" Rhebpi cheerily said walking Washington back.

*back at camp*

"I don't care if it's zero degrees out! Heck I don't care if it's 100 degrees _below_ zero! The fact of the matter is you guys _have_ to push through this! Those of you that survive will live to see _exactly_ what you're fighting for!" Arlina said, trying to rile up the spirits of the troops.

"He's in a state of shock." Rhebpi said as he handed Arlina a stiff George Washington.

"Well don't treat him like a statue!" Arlina scolded as she gently set Washington down in the area he was before.

"Soldier, statue…sadly, in this time there really isn't much of a difference." Rhebpi joked.

Washington sat up. "Hey, he's right! The Red Coats are traditional fighters, so all we need to do is _not_ play by their rules! We can win this men! Hooray now we're all better and going to live!" He said sarcastically.

"Arlina…group meeting." Rhebpi said as he motioned for her to walk with him, away from the others.

"I take it that the soldiers are losing morale…"

"Yes…R, why is that? I thought they fought through and defeated Valley Forge's winter!"

"It's clearly going to be something we do that helps that happen." Rhebpi said. "If not, well, I've got a lot of space-time to fix if not.."

"But I don't get it! They've been in this place for so long, and they've made no attempt to leave! It's like they've been purposely camping here, as though they're refusing to let the cold weather take them over!"

Rhebpi began tinkering with his shield.

"What is that for anyway?" Arlina asked pointing.

"It's for me." Rhebpi said as he finished tinkering. "So, you were saying?"

Arlina folded her arms. "Shield first, plan second."

Rhebpi said. "I'm not quite sure what the full extent of its power is, but I can see the past, present, or future with this shield. It also works as an actual shield, and as a mini Deporter if I want to transfer a large number of people to another era in time. Now, repeat what you said!"

Arlina, without giving the whole time-shield thing a second thought repeated what she had said. "It's like they're refusing to let the cold take them over!" Arlina exclaimed. "It's like they're trying to beat it like it's just another army!"

"Arlina that's it!" Rhebpi said jumping up. "A+ Arlina, A+!"

"Oh, not this again…" She said smiling.

"Arlina, isn't it simple, of course they aren't moving an letting the cold weather push them out of Valley Forge! They're _human men from the 1700s_! They are too stubborn to let themselves be bested by anything! They're complaining, yes, but they aren't _doing_ anything to speed up their deaths! In fact, they're all fighting still. Tell me, the soldiers that wanted to give up…were they still alive when I got back with Washington?"

"They were." Arlina nodded. "But-"

"Ah Ah Ah…no buts! The reason they're still alive is because they naturally are fighting the elements! It's in their nature! Arlina, you brilliant girl! Andale Arlina, _you_ are going to convince Washington and his men to fight through Valley Forge!" He grabbed her hand and they started to run toward the camp.

"Hey! General Washington!" Rhebpi yelled at Washington who stood up.

"What is it now?' he asked. "Can't you see we're busy writing our wills?"

"I'd hold off on that will if I were you." Rhebpi said. He backed away. "But my friend Arlina has something to say!"

"General Washington, I am thoroughly disappointed in you!" Arlina scolded. "You know, where I come from, you are respected as a great man! And I always wanted to meet you! I always wondered what it would be like to meet George Washington! But now that I have met you, I'm incredibly heartbroken. I thought you'd be this great inspirational figure, but here you are, a full grown man, giving into a little bit of snow! You know why it's so cold? Your cotton uniform is taking all the heat from you, because the snow is taking heat from it! Lose the cotton! It'll be better that way! But you are _not_ going to give up. You _can't_. If you give up, America will never exist! All this will be in vain! You've been trying to survive the winter for months now right? Well, what's the point in trying if you're just going to give up?" Arlina was breathing heavily now. She stepped back to Rhebpi.

"Wow…" George said. "I…I tell you what…_I'll_ fight to survive the rest of the winter, and I'll try to keep as many of my men alive as possible. I can't guarantee anything, but I'll _try_."

"And that should be all you need to do George!" Rhebpi said nodding. He threw the Returner disk against the snow. "Ready to go Arlina?"

"We don't have to wipe his memory do we?" She asked.

"Wipe my memory?" Washington asked astonished.

"No….not his…." Rhebpi said. "He's going to need his memory of me for later." Rhebpi said. "Because I'll eventually have to see you again George" He turned to Washington. "But that won't be for a while."

"How do you know this?" Arlina asked.

"Because im going to see his presidency when I get some free time, but I've been having way to much of my own fun recently. It's time to get back on track." Rhebpi whispered.

"Bye you two! Good luck!" George said as Arlina and Rhebpi stepped into the Returner's light.

**The Heavens**

"So, who is this?" Myra asked as Rhebpi led Arlina out of the Deporter doors.

"Arlina." Rhebpi answered blatantly

"What type of life form is she?"

"I….Im not sure."

"She could be a demon."

"She isn't." Arlina butted in.

"How can she be trusted?" Myra asked Rhebpi, but looking at Arlina

"She's been helping me with stuff so far."

"What type of life form are you?' Myra asked Arlina.

Arlina sighed and let out her white wings.

"Why did you bring her here?" Myra asked Rhebpi

"She wanted to come along with me for one little trip. She's going back home now." Rhebpi said

"What! No! I don't want to go home!" Arlina protested.

"Well maybe if you had _both_ been honest from the beginning, you wouldn't have to-" Myra stopped mid-sentence.

"What is it?" Rhebpi asked.

"Well, I'm sure your little friend has a fascinating story for me and Crodia, but I think she might get another adventure yet. I need you in Ancient Athens, pronto. Apparently some demons are there, and their very existence on Earth is dangerous for the universe. Both of you get back in the Deporter."

"Of course!" Rhebpi said as he zoomed into the Deporter. "Andale Arlina!" He motioned for her to join him. She zoomed in too. "Alright Myra! Ancient Athens! Come on, Let's go!"


	14. 2-4

**Athens, Ancient Greece**

"Ahh Athens…" Rhebpi said, stepping out of the Deporter and inhaling the air. "It's a wonderful place!" He started to walk away. "Alright, let's leave."

"Leave?" Arlina ran after him. "I thought there were de-"

"Shhh!" Rhebpi turned suddenly, shushing her. "As far as _they_ know, _we_ don't know they're here! No talking about them! They could be anything…or anyone."

"Even that guy?" Arlina asked as the two of them walked passed a man on a rock, preaching to younger men about something.

"No, not him!" Rhebpi smiled. "That's Socrates. He's more human than I am Angel!"

Arlina tilted her head curiously. "what does that mean?"

"A story for another time…" Rhebpi smiled. "Oh!" He jumped up, looking behind Arlina. "Plato! Plato! Over here!"

"Do my eyes deceive me?" A man who Arlina could only assume to be Plato came down the pathway and hugged Rhebpi. "Angel R!" He said. "It's great to see you again!"

"Likewise Plato!" Rhebpi agreed. He turned. "Oh, Plato, this is Arlina, Arlina, Plato."

Arlina shook hands with Plato, paralyzed in awe.

The Angel

2.4

"It's not that I'm upset to see you here again R…" Plato said. "And thank you for not erasing my memory from last time, but…Why on Earth have you returned? It's only been a few months since your last visit!"

"Actually," Rhebpi said. "It's _what_'s on Earth that's made me return." Rhebpi looked around before finally whispering "Demons."

"I thought you said not to talk about them." Arlina said.

"Arlina, I'd love to play back and forth with you, but not now. This is a rather serious case."

"What could the demons want on Earth?" Plato contemplated.

"We need Socrates's help." Rhebpi said pleading. "I'm sorry Plato, but I need to break the promise I made to you all those months ago."

"What promise?" Arlina asked as she looked from Plato to Rhebpi, grim expressions had taken both of their faces.

"He promised that the rulers of Athens wouldn't persecute us for teaching 'ungodly' work. But if something is bad enough that Angel R is coming to _us_ for help for once, chances are we're all going to be noticed." Plato explained. He turned to Rhebpi. "I'm sure I speak for both of us when I say we offer our full cooperation in this dark time." Plato half smiled, while he nodded.

*Later*

"No." Socrates put bluntly. "I refuse to do it. I will not."

"Arlina, look carefully." Rhebpi said in mocking manner. "The great Socrates is refusing to stand up for himself!"

"I'm refusing to holler nonsense about demons into the air!" Socrates yelled. A few heads turned.

"Demons?" One man questioned.

"Nothing! It's nothing!" Socrates reassured him. "Go about your day, may the gods bless you!"

"Glory of Athena." The man said nodding as he walked off.

Socrates turned to Rhebpi. "You see that?" He asked. "Innocent people will worry their heads off with stuff like that!"

"They very well should!" Rhebpi countered.

"Teacher, please!" Plato begged. "I'll help too! I promise!"

"Plato will _definitely_ help." Rhebpi whispered to Arlina. "Some people up when I first met you even speculate that Socrates wasn't real due to the knowledge in Plato's writings."

"Huh." Arlina said.

"Plato, you know the risks we take if we preach such anti-greek subjects, yet you are still willing to go through with this ridiculous plan?"

"This Angel has helped me once before!" Plato said, putting an arm around Rhebpi. "He's the whole reason we know each other, and for that, I'm eternally grateful, and am glad to help him with whatever he needs help with!"

"That's the spirit!" Socrates said. "Very good, young student, you _are_ ready!"

"Wait, wait, wait!" Arlina said. "You were just against this plan! Don't try to just switch sides like that."

"My dear young Angel," Socrates said. Arlina gasped as she hadn't shown Socrates her wings yet, yet he could tell she was an Angel. "I've been for this plan from the beginning. Your friend knew this all along as well, I was simply testing my pupil."

"You….you _knew _he was for the plan?" Arlina asked Rhebpi, astonished.

"Of course I knew!" Rhebpi said laughing. "Arlina when has Socrates _ever_ refused to speak what he knew?"

"Then….then why…why did you?...Uggh!" Arlina turned quickly away. "I get that you're a special Angel and all, but I am too you know! I object to you treating me like an inferior!"

"Arlina.." Rhebpid flew in front of her. "Arlina I'm so sorry, I genuinely thought you know I was joking…and of course I know you're a special Angel!" He said.

"Wait really?" She asked. "_I _was just pouting that time."

"No…No you _are_ special. Arlina, let me fill you in on something: I never. I repeat never, spend this much time with others unless they're very special. And the fact that you were an Angel outside of our own realm is testament to how special you truly are."

"This is all very touching…" Plato said. "But I think we might want to come up with a plan now…"

*Later*

"Okay, so here's what's going to happen." Rhebpi said as everyone sat down. "Socrates and Plato are going to start preaching about demons in Athens. Arlina!"

"Yes!" Arlina said sitting up.

"You are going to make sure no physical harm comes to either one of these men while they preach. If the police show up: Do nothing. I repeat: Do nothing. Just let Plato and Socrates continue to preach, and don't let anyone hurt them."

"But I want to go with you!"

"No. Too risky."

"What's too risky?"

"Demons are one of the few divine powers that can kill an Angel. Me…Crodia will revive me, but you don't have that guarantee, so I need you safe with the preachers."

"Ok. What are you going to do?"

"I'm going to look at everyone's reactions to the preaching, and follow anyone that I think is suspicious of being a demon. As evil and cunning as they are, they aren't clever enough to put up a very effective disguise. They often stay away from things they deem unnecessary like rulers and priests. Arlina!"

"What now?"

"I want you to report back to me if anything happens. If something happens, come back to _this_ area. Understand?"

"Crystal clear."

*Later*

"Demons in Athens! Demons in Athens!" Plato preached out from atop a rock. Rhebpi watched the facial expressions of the civilians from the rooftop.

"Chiming in for a 'why haven't you found the demons yet'?" Myra's voice asked through the time shield.

"Working on it." Rhebpi said back into the shield. He looked up and frowned. "I found one." He said.

The man he was looking at then looked up at him, his eyes turned red, and he disappeared. He instantly reappeared in front of Rhebpi on the rooftop.

"Easy buddy…" Rhebpi said readying his bow. "I'm an Angel!"

"Angel…" The demonic man said. "Angel…"

"Look who are you and what do you want?"

"Who are you?" The man repeated.

"Exactly, who are-"

"R….R…..R….Angel…."

"Oh, not you again…."

"Angel R!" Julus said as he shape shifted back into a demon form. "Congratulations…You've found your demon…unfortuneately…" He pointed at Socartes and Plato being carried away by Athenian authorities. "Unfortunately, I'm not the problem anymore am I? Just like any vain and cocky hero, you've fallen straight into the trap I so cleverly set."

"Why?" Rhebpi asked. "Why are you doing this?"

"I'm doing what my Queen commands of me." Julus said. "I must say it honestly breaks my heart a little to know the awful things that will happen to everyone. That explosion from your Big Bang endeavor, it's radiation gave me great premonitions of future events. Unfortunately I don't know _how_ to trigger it, but these events have all been so very true."

"What is your Queen planning?" Rhebpi asked. "And why do you even bother telling me?"

"Your knowledge won't effect the outcome of the battle, my esteemed Angel R…I have seen it, so it _shall_ be. You will fall in battle if you attempt to stop us, and I hate to break it to you, but I saw no regeneration. Queen Marideath is quite cross with you after that fiasco you pulled back at the Battle of Big Bang, and she intends to weaken you to a state of need so great that there will be nothing to stop her from taking the very thing you work so hard to protect…"

"Earth is splitting…"

"Exactly." Julus said nodding.

"R!" Arlina called.

"I must be off!" Julus smirked at R and disappeared.

"I'm not reading any demons in the area anymore." Myra said. "Whatever they were doing, they stopped."

"R! Hurry!" Arlina called.

"Gotta go, Myra. My companion needs me." Rhebpi said into the shield. He flew off of the roof and landed in front of Arlina, who was scared out of her mind and breathing heavily.

"It's ok!" Rhebpi said. "It's ok. It's ok. Calm down."

"No….No…It's not okay" Arlina said through heavy breaths. "….They…I….R!"

"It's ok." Rhebpi reassured her as he hugged her to calm her down. "Shhh…everything will be fine, now tell me what happened."

"Socrates is going on trial for preaching anti-holy ideas on sacred Athenian ground…"

"Oh. Good!"

"Good? Good? How is this possibly good?!"

"Perspective, Arlina, perspective." Rhebpi said nodding.

"But Socrates is going to _lose_ that trial!" Arlina complained. "I read about it in my World History class last year."

"It's Ancient Greece, world history doesn't-"

"You know what I mean!" She slugged Rhebpi in the arm.

"Look, Arlina, I knew this would happen. It's a special point in time."

"Time can be rewritten. We can just use your time-arrows to-"

"_This_ point is one of many that are fixed. In every version of this event, Socrates is _always_ put on trial."

"Then, we should at least help him win!" Arlina argued. Rhebpi shook his head.

"Hear that?" He asked.

"Hear what?" A loud cheer was suddenly audible.

"Socrates no!" Plato said as he followed Socrates up the path toward Rhebpi and Arlina.

"What happened?" Arlina rushed to Socrates. "You won right? _Please_ tell me you won!"

Socrates smiled and shook his head. He looked up at Rhebpi.

"I've been sentenced to execution." He said.

"And?" Rhebpi raised a brow.

"I don't plan on letting them have the satisfaction of witnessing my death. I'll leave this world, but I'll do it on my own terms."

"Actually buddy…" Rhebpi grinned. He nudged Arlina. "Oh my goodness this is exciting, this is the first time I've ever gotten to do this!"

"Do what?" Plato asked as Rhebpi threw the Returner disk onto the ground.

"I believe my existence has come to an end, my student." Socrates said.

"Well, his human one anyway!" Rhebpi chimed in and Socrates stepped on the Returner and began to glow and ascend. "You see there comes a time when a human is supposed to die where he or she is judged on their actions throughout life, and often sentenced to their appropriate destiny based upon their position on the plane of morality. There are few souls though, a very very few, who for one, have a pure soul, which is a quality rare already, but they must also have demonstrated great courage, wisdom, and most importantly, they die a martyr. _These_ people gain the gods' given privilege of becoming Angels!"

"People are going to question Athenian law after this, Plato." Socrates said. "They will soon come to accept my teachings. I need you, my student, to help guide them. The student has now become the teacher!" And with that, Socrates's back sprouted large white wings, and he disappeared.

"Are the demons gone?" Plato asked Rhebpi as he and Arlina were about to get going through one of Rhebpi's time-space portals that he used his arrows to create.

"Yes. Yes they are." Rhebpi said. "I take it you don't want me to erase your memory this time either, right…"

"Actually…" Plato said.

"You can't be serious! What if this happens again, what if-?"

"Arlina…It's too late. My mind is made up." He turned to Rhebpi. "R…do your thing."

"You may just follow in your teacher's footsteps." Rhebpi said as he took Arlina by the wrist and ran into the portal. "Andale, Arlina! You have some explaining to do!"

**The Heavens**

As Arlina and Rhebpi exited the Deporter doors, Myra immediately glared at Arlina.

"You're an Angel?" she asked. "I don't buy it."

"I never said I was an Angel!" Arlina said.

"Wait, so if you aren't an Angel, and you aren't a human, what are you?" Rhebpi asked.

"I'm one of the regular angels." Arlina smiled.

"wait you mean like the-"

"Yes, Myra. Like the biblical angels. My trainer was archangel Micheal, actually."

"But what were you doing at Culver City, where I found you?" Rhebpi asked.

"I was stationed there at a young age, as a miracle worker. I would find the best life forms in the area and help them work miracles."

"And you tagged along with R…" Myra said. "Is he supposed to work a miracle?"

"I don't know the future." Arlina shrugged. "I just do what feels right."

"On the subject of doing what feels right…" Myra said pulling out some paper and handing it to Rhebpi.

"Oh no, not _this_ again….I swear this has been a thorn in my side for-"

"What is it we have to do?" Arlina asked.

"We!" Rhebpi jumped up. "That's it! That's it! A+ Arlina! A+!"

"Wha-What is it? What are we going to-?"

"_We_ are going to head on over to Salem, Massachusetts, and be firsthand witnesses to the Witch Trials!"


	15. 2-5

The Angel 2.5

**Salem, Massachusetts, USA, 1692**

"The Salem Witch Trials?" Arlina asked as she and Rhebpi flew over the small town of Salem, Massachusetts. "You have trouble with _this_ of all things?'

"Oh, Arlina, our mission isn't to save anyone in Salem. I'm sure if that was the case, all we'd need to do would be to spread our wings and say 'stop'."

"Oh, okay, so do you mind enlightening me on how letting all those innocent people-"

"It's a fixed point." Rhebpi interrupted her. "For all those people, in every possible scenario, they die in the trials."

"Even John Proctor?" Arlina asked in disbelief. Rhebpi nodded. "Then why _are_ we here?"

"_That_." Rhebpi pointed toward the woods surrounding the city. A red figure was running around. "That's Dotanos."

"Another demon?"

"Not _another_ demon, one of the smartest, and most skilled, demon soldiers."

"And you've never stopped him?"

"Whoa!" Rhebpi cut Arlina's flight path off. "Hold up now, give me some credit, I stop him each time it's just that-"

"It's just that the lunatic can't seem to escort the guy back to our holding cell." Another Angel appeared behind Arlina, who jumped.

"Ahh!" She turned around and saw the other Angel, a female, with long brown hair. She also had one of Rhebpi's time shields on her arm, and a quiver full of arrows like Rhebpi.

The Angel looked around for a while before she realized what was going on. "Oh! I'm Llydinia, but please, call me L! I work alongside blondie here." She motioned to Rhebpi.

"Angel R and Angel L?" Arlina asked. "Is there an Angel for every letter of the alphabet in your establishment?"

"Oh, heavens no." Rhebpi said. "That would be terrifyingly loud. Crodia wouldn't want that." He turned to Llydinia. "What are you doing here? _I _was assigned this mission."

"The man upstairs gave me the day off!" Llydinia smiled. "I figured I'd just tag along with you, but apparently you have your _own_ plans." Llydinia cocked her head in Arlina's direction and raised an eyebrow toward Rhebpi. "Hittin' it off with that _other_ type of angel eh?" She joked.

"What? No! Wait…What? Oh, shut up." He said as he began to fly away.

"Haha, R! R, come on!" Llydinia began to fly after him. "You know I was just kidding! R!"

"Hey! What am I, a puppy?" Arlina asked as she flew to catch up with the two Angels. "Wait up!"

As Arlina caught up to them, the two Angels seemed to be talking about her.

"And she came along with you after the incident with Julus in Culver City?"

"That's right." Rhebpi confirmed.

"And do _any_ of the angels know that she's missing?"

"Well, I haven't had much luck finding any of them! They don't just waltz down to earth like we do!"

"Waltz down here? I'm not waltzing anywhere!" Arlina protested.

"I wasn't being literal!" Rhebpi stated. "Now we need to go catch Dotanos before who knows what happens! Come on, let's go!"

"So why did you _really_ come?" Arlina asked Llydinia as they flew to catch up with Rhebpi. "I can tell when someone is lying, and you were definitely sent here. This is no day off. What's going on?"

"Well, it's a long story, but I think I can tell it." Llydinia flew to the other side of Arlina. "Alright, let's begin with Crodia."

"Who?"

"Crodia…the god of balance…in charge of keeping time-space intact…the one R and I work for…any of this ringing a bell to you?"

"I've never met him." Arlina said.

Llydinia shrugged. "oh well, in that case I'll skip ahead to my first day on the job. I had to tag along with the goof on this one mission that turned out to be a complete dud…and boy was he something. No matter how frustrated I got at him, he just calmly kept his cool and focused on the mission…he has a, certain something not many Angeles do anymore, or maybe he lacks something, but for some reason, he's definitely different."

"So that's why you're here now?"

"I wish that's why I was here, but I'm not done. This story isn't about him, it's about me. After that first initial mission, R went off with Myra operating the Deporter for his missions, while Lord Crodia would assign me missions. The _last_ mission I was on though, definitely takes the cake for the weirdest one, and most unsettling."

"What was it?"

"You're familiar with Tartarus right?"

"Tartar sauce?"

"N-no…Tartarus…ok, think of Hell, only for dieties."

"And that's Tartarus?"

"That's where Tartarus is _located._ It's a giant hole in the ground that serves as a maximum security prison. But ever since _she_ got out, it's been one escape after another, mostly demons of course, after all she _is_ their leader."

"Who?"

"Marideath, the demon queen."

"Mari_death_…are you serious? What kind of name is-?"

"Oh I don't know, maybe it's the kind of name a _demon_ would want!" Llydinia snapped. "Stop interrupting me. I'm telling a story!"

Arlina nodded. "Sorry, continue."

"I was sent…down there… to help repair Tartarus, and she appeared."

"Did you catch her?"

"Well, she wasn't actually there…It was a psychic message. I wasn't aware that demons could send those…She told me…she told me that R was going to die."

"But he's under a god! He said back in Greece that he'd regenerate if he died!"

"I know Arlina, I know, but there are things that could happen to him, things that could damage his body beyond repair, even by a god. I tell you, it's a good thing you're here, because we're going to need a miracle to win this fight."

"Fight? What's going on? What are the demons planning?"

"Marideath wants to split the Earth."

"That's a big earthquake…" Arlina gulped.

"Oh, no nor like that…" Llydinia said. "Heavens no, that's why too safe, no she means split as in the way you split an atom's nucleus."

"That can't be good."

"It isn't, the explosion that it would force, everything would be completely and utterly destroyed, and when I say everything, I don't just mean earth, I mean the solar system, the cosmos, and heck, according to Crodia himself, that explosion could tear up the Heavens too!"

"So we need to make sure that they don't do that…" Arlina said. "But how?"

"Enter stage, Dotanos." Llydinia gestured. "Marideath's best demon soldier. He's searching for the ideal spot to dig to the center of the Earth."

"Which just so happens to be in Salem, Massachusetts? But why this time? Why not earlier, or later, why during the witch trials?"

"That's why…" Llydinia said as Arlina looked down and saw Rhebpi being dragged by a woman.

"I saw him! I saw him with the Devil!"

"Oh you have _got_ to be kidding me…" Crodia's voice said through Llydinia's shield. "Today is not his lucky day…"

"Who is that?" Arlina pointed to Llydinia's time-shield. "Who is he?"

"I'm Crodia…" Crodia said. "It's quite an honor to have an angel working alongside one of my Angels, a little strange, but still. It's nice. Arlina, go help R…L and I will track down Dotanos."

"Ok!" Arlina said as she flew over Rhebpi, who was being escorted to a courtroom.

"Mr. Johnson, did you see the Devil?" The judge asked.

"No. I saw a _demon_," Rhebpi rolled his eyes. "My goodness, the Devil would look more like an angel actually…"

"R!" Arlina shouted as she ran into the courtroom.

"Arlina! Where's L?"

"Is that your-?"

"That's my daughter." Rhebpi lied.

"R! Papa! We're going to be late for church if you run off like that!" Arlina went with the lie.

"I'm sorry honey it won't happen again." He got up. "Good day fellows."

"Hold it!" The judge said. "It isn't Sunday! You're lying!"

"Of course it's Sunday!" Rhebpi said, laughing. "Everyone, check your calendars!"

"Hey, it _is_ Sunday!" A woman said.

"This is impossible!" The judge looked at his own calendar. "It was Sunday yesterday!"

"Well, I guess it is God's will that today be a Sunday as well." Rhebpi smiled. "Now if you'll excuse me, my daughter and I must be off."

"Hold up!" the judge stood up. "How do we know you aren't the Devil?"

"Because the Devil wouldn't have waited this long to do…this!" Rhebpi, who was in handcuffs, broke out of them and shot an arrow into the window of the courtroom, creating a time-space portal and extended his wings.

"Andale, Arlina!" He said as he flew through the portal. Arlina quickly followed him.

**The Heavens**

"I take it you managed to stay alive?" Llydinia asked as Rhebpi and Arlina fell to the ground. Or whatever you called the ground of The Heavens…

"We're fine." Rhebpi said. "What about you?"

Arlina looked up, and she knew the answer. "What is that?" She pointed at a swirling vortex of purple fire.

"I wouldn't touch that…" Myra said. "It may _look_ pretty, but it's pure destruction. The slightest touch, and you'll have never existed, not even as a thought."

"This is what reached the Heavens of Marideath's plan." Llydinia said gloomily. "Apparently it's a slow reaction, but surely, the Earth is in Meltdown mode."

"The core is the key…" Rhebpi said. "We need to get to the center of the Earth! We might be able to stop it there!"

"Yeah…I doubt it." A familiar voice said. Arlina turned to see an Angel who looked just like Rhebpi, only his hair, clothes, and wings, were all made of darkness and anti-matter.

"Ipbehr!" Rhebpi yelled as he charged at him, but Ipbehr simply walked out of the way effortlessly.

"Sorry pal, no can do. I'd love to fight you after that humiliating Big Bang stalemate, but you know, I have my own orders."

Rhebpi charged at him again, but, again, Ipbehr was able to walk out of the way.

"Look, I'm operating on a different time-length than you right now. Surprised? Yeah, I know, who knew the shields could do that too? Ah well, I guess I'll just take this!" He plucked a feather off of Llydinia. "And maybe _this_ too." He plucked one off of Arlina. "And now I think I'll head back to Lady Lilianna." And with that he disappeared.

"Ow! That dick!" Llydinia said as she messaged her wing.

"This is bad, this is bad…" Rhebpi said as he started to pace back and forth.

"Very bad…" Crodia appeared. "Armed with those feathers and that shield, along with his already vast knowledge, Dark R is just about the most dangerous being in the universe at the moment."

"Screw Earth, that jerk isn't going to clone his friends over here! We're going to stop him!" Rhebpi said as he shot a space-time arrow.

"Woah woah woah…" Llydinia said, raising her arms. "I've got a job to do. I still need to go fix that Oil Spill crisis back in 2010. I'll meet up with you lunatics later." She shot her own space time arrow and flew through it.

"Arlina come on!" Rhebpi pressured. "I need your help let's go!"

"R…did you seriously just suggest we chase and fight what a _god_ just called the most powerful being in the universe?"

"Oh heavens no, Arlina, no, that would be a _stupid_ idea. I suggested that we _catch_ and _defeat_ what a god just called the most dangerous thing in the universe. C'mon let's go! Andale Arlina!"

"Wait!" Myra said, just in time to, as Rhebpi had almost ran through the portal. She took out what looked like a sandwich and handed it to Rhebpi. "Eat it."

"….Why?"

"Well, you should be nourished if you're going to face such a powerful opponent…"

"Oh! Of course!" Rhebpi said. "A+ Arlina! A+! I'm an Angel, we don't need to eat! This sandwich is some sort of performance enhancer! Thanks Myra, you're the best sorceress ever!"

Rhebpi split the sandwich in half. He handed one half to Arlina and took a bite of the other.

"You eat this one. We both need to be at our best if we're going where I think we're going."

"It's a placebo isn't it…" Crodia whispered to Myra.

"The best kind of magic." Myra joked. "Let's just hope it works."

"Where do you think we're going, R?" Arlina asked Rhebpi.

"Oh, Arlina…We're going _everywhere_!"


	16. 2-6

The Angel

2.6

**Athens, Ancient Greece**

"The heck are we doing back here?" Arlina asked as she and Rhebpi flew through the space-time portal.

"Dark R is technically me…" Rhebpi said. "He's here somewhere, I can sense it."

"Can he sense you?"

"Probably, but you know me... I do love myself a good challenge!"

"Look at the sky!" A man screamed and dozens of citizens began running around Athens. Arlina looked up at the sky and realized that the familiar purple aura of destruction was spreading high overhead.

"It's like an acid." Rhebpi explained. "It encases the Earth and eats its way inward."

"But….The demons are at the Earth's center so… wouldn't it…"

Rhebpi gave Arlina a look. "Are you familiar with the laws of physics?" He asked. Arlina nodded. "Good." He said. "Disregard them from here on out." He took off into the sky. "Andale Arlina, we need to find Ipbehr!"

As the two of them came upon the Parthenon…Arlina could just make out Ipbehr's silhouette.

"It took you long enough!" Ipbehr mocked, as he flew up into the air. He was holding a jar, which contained two feathers. "I take it you're looking for these." He wiggled the jar in the air.

"Give me those!" Rhebpi said as he charged at Ipbehr who flew out of the way just in time.

"Woah…You're faster now…Figured out how to use the shield to do that didn't you?"

"You should know..." Arlina said. "You are just another version of the same Angel."

"This is enough, hand me the feathers." Rhebpi said, gesturing out his hand.

"Oh, okay _sure_." Ipbehr mocked as he gestured the arm holding the jar out, and threw it behind him into a space-time hole.

"Catch me if you can R, haha!" He said as he flew into the hole after the jar.

"Angel R….I should've known." An unfamiliar voice said from everywhere. "You are just all over the place aren't you?"

"R? Who is that?" Arlina asked.

"Do you need my help _again_ R? I _can_ send you some-"

"It's _fine._ I've _got _it." Rhebpi said. "Honestly, you act like your Angel is the only one that can do anything…"

"R…Who is that?" Arlina demanded.

"Athena."

"Really?"

"Well…" Rhebpi shrugged. "Athena, Minerva, up in her realm she's called Palutena…she's got more names than-"

"I'm sending Pit in to help you if you don't get a move-on." Palutena said cheerily.

"Okay, okay…I'm leaving. Andale Arlina!" Rhebpi said as he flew through Ipbehr's space-time portal.

"Ummm…It was nice to meet you?" Arlina shrugged. She turned and flew into the space-time hole after Rhebpi.

**Valley Forge, 1779 C.E.**

"Hey, this is Valley Forge!" Arlina exclaimed. "What's Dark R doing in Valley Forge?"

"He's toying with us…" Rhebpi said. "Dark R seems to be travelling through our own timeline backwards…I bet we'll end up in Culver City next…"

"How very impressive of you to figure the game out!" Ipbehr appeared. "But for the record, 'Dark R' sounds a little…extreme… I prefer 'Better R'." He said as he took out a bow that he split into two swords. "I hope you're ready for combat."

He charged at Rhebpi, who deflected the swords with his shield. "Arlina!" Rhebpi called. "The jar! He can't protect the jar if he's busy fighting!"

Arlina looked frantically around until she found the jar hidden in the snow where Ipbehr was once standing. Ipbehr noticed this to and they looked at each other for two seconds, before Rhebpi struck Ipbehr on the head with his shield.

"Get the jar and go through the portal!" He said. "I'm right behind you!"

Arlina flew quickly and picked up the jar as she jetted through the space-time portal that Ipbehr had set up.

**Culver City, 2013 C.E.**

"Holy mother of god the sky is really bad here!" Rhebpi said as he caught up to Arlina. "We've got what we need, so let's get back to The Heavens pronto!"

"I don't think so…" Ipbehr said as he appeared in front of Arlina and swiped the jar from her hands. "If you would be so kind as to let me _keep_ this jar, I promise to go without hurting any of you."

"Too late for that." Arlina said as she rubbed her wing.

"What a pity that is." Ipbehr said as he shook his head. He popped it back up suddenly. "Buh-bye!" He said as he flew off towards downtown Los Angeles.

"Get back here!" Rhebpi screamed as he jetted after Ipbehr. "Andale Arlina, we need to catch him, C'mon let's go!"

Ipbehr zoomed in zigzag motions through the skyscrapers of LA, Rhebpi close behind him. Rhebpi took out his bow and an arrow. "Oh." Arlina said, "Are you going to send him to a place where you'll have the fighting advantage?"

"Not really…" Rhebpi said adjusting his strings. "I'm going to pierce a hole in his wing."

"What?!" Myra's voice cried through Rhebpi's shield. "R, you can't do that! All damage that comes to him will hurt you as well!"

"But R hit Dark R over the head with his shield…" Arlina said. "And nothing happened to him."

"Oh please, R in his right mind wouldn't-"

"Too late." Rhebpi said as he shot the arrow.

"You missed!" Ipbehr said as he flew out of the way.

"I certainly did not." Rhebpi said smiling and pointing at Ipbehr's right arm, the arm holding the jar. The _broken_ jar.

"The feathers!" Ipbehr screamed realizing what had happened. "Where did they go?"

"Oh, by now they've probably been trampled by the cars on the ground." Rhebpi said adjusting another arrow. "But I'm not quite done with you yet!" He said as he shot another arrow, this time creating a space-time portal, which Ipbehr flew right into.

"You ready Arlina?"

"You bet!" Arlina said smiling.

"Alright then! Andale, Arlina, let's go!"

**Kalispell, Montana USA, 1939**

"This….is the middle of nowhere…" Arlina said as she and Rhebpi landed.

"You're telling me…" Ipbehr said as he shot an arrow at Rhebpi from the top of a pine tree.

"R! Look out!" The arrow just grazed his right arm, but left a pretty good wound, making the use of the right arm impossible.

"Ah….god that stings…" Rhebpi said, and then smirked. "But now you can't use your right arm either, which means I win."

"Don't be rediculus." Ipbehr said. "How does that constitute a win? At best it's a stalemate."

"No…." Rhebpi said, flying up to Ipbehr. "Because as similar as we are, there _is_ one difference about us, a difference that I wouldn't even have noticed if it weren't for you stealing that jar back from us.

"And what difference is that?"

"There's a reason you sacrificed your right arm to get rid of mine. You used the 'we are the same' logic. By getting rid of your dominant arm, you would get rid of mine too, but here's something you might be interested to know: We aren't completely the same, in fact there are parts about us that are complete opposites, and while you may think getting rid of my right arm was a good idea, it wasn't, want to know why?" Rhebpi asked as he turned the bow in his left hand into a short sword.

"Oh….crud." Ipbehr said as he braced himself with the shield on his left arm.

"I happen to be _left-_handed!" Rhebpi said triumphantly as he swung down, aiming not for Ipbehr, but for his shield. The sword hit the shield straight on, causing it to shoot sparks about for a while, before finally, it exploded and a giant force propelled Rhebpi, Ipbehr, and Arlina through the fabric of space and time, to the last place Rhebpi expected to end up.

**New York City, New York, New Year's Eve, 1999 C.E.**

"The shield!" Ipbehr screamed. "Aahhhhhahahahahahahahaaaa!" His screaming turned into laughter. "But…that means that your _own_ shield is a bust!"

"Actually." Rhebpi said holding up his own shield. "My shield is completely fine…Now…" He said looking around. "Where exactly are we?"

"I'd say we're in New York City on New Year's Eve in 1999." Ipbehr said as he read a giant neon sign.

"The world is ending! The world is ending!" People were running frantically through the streets.

"Hey!" Arlina pointed to an open window on one of the top stories of a building. "Isn't that you R?"

"Yeah…" He said. "That's me. NO talking to him! One can only imagine the terrible paradox events that would happen if I were to meet myself…"

"I thought paradox's either resolved themselves or didn't ever happen." Arlina said.

"Who told you that?"

"Oh no one, just the archangel Micheal…"

"Ah, well then…he's got the right idea…" Rhebpi said, scratching his nose. He walked up to Ipbehr. "My shield is one of a kind, Ipbehr." He said. "It's the most powerful shield in the universe. It can change the past, turn the tides of the present and is capable of creating and destroying futures. It cannot, I repeat _cannot,_ be cloned. You can try to clone it, and you can get pretty close, but when push comes to shove, my shield is _the_ time-space shield. And yours is only _just_ a copy."

Rhebpi unhooked Ipbehr's quiver full of arrows from him as Ipbehr was still struck by what Rhebpi had just said. "I'm not going to fight you." Rhebpi said. "I've clearly come out of this victorius. Perhaps Lilianna will get you." Rhebpi looked up. "Unless of course, that pure destruction that's getting pretty fast reaches you first…"

"Andale Arlina." Rhebpi said as he shot a space-time arrow. "C'mon, let's go back to The Heavens. We have a tough battle ahead and we need to prepare."

**The Heavens**

"So, I take it you successfully stopped the cloning plan."

"Of course we did!" Arlina smiled. Her eyes turned to Crodia, who was in his human form. He seemed upset. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Llydinia was supposed to check in with me every 5 minutes." He said.

"Well, how many minutes has it been since she last checked up?" Rhebpi asked

"She's been silent down there for 3 and a half hours."

"Could the shield's batteries have run out?" Arlina asked.

"It's one of the most powerful shields in the universe, it doesn't need _batteries_!" Rhebpi said. He turned to Crodia. "Well, if she's trapped shouldn't we go in and save her?"

"R, there's like a good 2 hundred demons down there!" Arlina said. "They have a freaking _army_!"

"Oh, A+, Arlina, A+!" Rhebpi said. "That's it!" He said turning to Crodia and Myra. "Guys, call in the Double A!"

"Double A?" Arlina asked.

"The Double A is the Angel Army." Rhebpi said. "If anyone can help us, it's them!"

"Phew, what a relief!" Arlina said. "For a second I thought we'd be going in without any back-up."

"Umm…I'm…I'm sorry R, but I have some bad news."

"What is it?"

"The Double A was already sent there….and they have also fallen silent."


	17. 2-7

The Angel

2.7

**The Heavens**

"The Double A…you mean to tell me Posvid, Hiptania, all of those Angels are down there right now?" Rhebpi asked.

"Indeed." Crodia confirmed. "We sent them in with Llydinia as backup…"

Rhebpi turned to Myra. "Send Arlina back to Culver City."

Arlina jumped up. She felt like Rhebpi had just torn her braids out of her hair. "No!" She screamed. "R, this is dangerous, you-"

"There is no way I'm putting an angel in danger!" Rhebpi said sternly.

"There is no way _I'm_ putting an _Angel_ in danger!" Arlina countered.

Rhebpi and Arlina stared at each other for a long time. "Are you sure?" Rhebpi asked.

"Absolutely." Arlina said.

"This _will_ be dangerous, safety is _not_ guaranteed."

"I understand."

"You still want to come along knowing that one false move could mean the destruction of the known universe?"

"More than ever!" Arlina smiled. Rhebpi returned the smile. He turned back to Myra. "C'mon Myra, fire up the Deporter, Let's go!"

"Got it." She said. "Careful down there R. The center of the Earth isn't exactly stable to begin with, and I doubt the demons have made it any more controllable."

"I'll take that into consideration." Rhebpi winked. He grabbed Arlina by the wrist and ran into the Deporter.

"So center of the Earth…" Arlina said. "If it was under different circumstances I'd say that's pretty cool."

Rhebpi laughed. "Well, I may have said that this would be dangerous, but I didn't say that this wouldn't be fun! Andale Arlina! To the center of the Earth!"

**Earth's Core, Time: Jumbled**

"Ow!" Arlina landed on solid rock. "I didn't expect to _land_…what's going on? Isn't the center of the earth supposed to be lava or something?"

Rhebpi put his hand on the stone that they were standing on, and suddenly a wide grin appeared on his face. "You clever, clever, Angel…" He said as he stood up. "You're absolutely right Arlina, this _is_ supposed to be lava, but our good friend Llydinia was here and somehow managed to use the time-shield to age the lava into hardened stone…"

"How is that even possible?" Arlina wondered.

"Most powerful shield in the universe, ring a bell?" Rhebpi joked, then he looked at his shield. "Well…_second_ most."

**Earth's Core: Marideath's Chamber**

"I…I finally…have you cornered you psycho…" Hiptania of the Double A stammered to Marideath, who was sitting in her throne. "Now, to finally defeat you after that stalemate at the Big Bang!"

"I certainly don't think you'll do much attacking, especially directed towards me." Marideath grinned. She snapped her fingers and out of the ground came a clear diamond case. Inside the diamond case was Posvid. "Any attacks directed at me will result in the immediate extermination of your friend here."

"You know that the other Angels are coming!" Hiptania said. "They'll be sure to stop you!"

"I'm well aware of Angels L and R." Marideath smiled. "But I have my best men to fend off those two."

"Why…" Posvid asked through his case. "Why Earth? Why does Earth have to be the planet you turn into the reactor?"

"Oh, well it's a matter of _personal_ reasons." Marideath said. "This is Angel R's favorite planet, though he wouldn't admit it in a million years, and after that humiliating stunt he pulled at the Big Bang, I want to make _sure_ he suffers!"

**Earth's Core**

"So now that we're about to up and fight them…" Arlina said as they flew along the molten lava. "What exactly is the story behind these demons?"

"The..story?" Rhebpi asked confused. "You mean who are the demons?"

"I suppose so yes."

"Well, think of everything you stand for, justice, peace, sanity, etc." He said.

"Ok. And so a demon stands for the opposite?"

"Not exactly." Rhebpi said. "Demons _are_ the opposites."

"I don't quite follow." Arlina said confused.

Rhebpi sighed and took out his time shield. "Play the Guide to Demons video." He said. As the shield's screen lit up, everything was all static-y.

"That's a pleasant noise." Arlina said sarcastically.

"This is probably why Crodia hasn't been able to contact Llydinia…" Rhebpi pointed out.

As the Guide to Demons played for Arlina, Rhebpi narrated. "Demons don't just fight for the cause of bad things, they _are_ the bad things. For instance take your seven deadly sins. They're all demons. The 4 horsemen of the apocalypse, they're all demons."

"So, is Marideath…_Death_?"

"Death is too busy to rule the Demon world." Rhebpi replied. "Marideath is Death's wife."

"I always thought Lucifer controlled the demon world…" Arlina said.

"Common misconception." Rhebpi replied. "Lucifer was a banished angel. And by angel I mean one of you, not me. Anyway he was a banished angel, sent to rule over Hell for trying to wage war against heaven. While _some_ demons might be in Hell, and under Lucifer's command, _most_ of them are over in whatever realm they call home."

"You don't know the name?"

"They're nomadic usually, finding the most destructive places and settling there. Sometimes they find perfect peaceful areas and wreck it all up though."

"So…if Marideath isn't Death…what anti-moral _is_ she?"

"You don't want to know…" Rhebpi winked. "Now Andale Arlina, we need to look for Llydinia and the Double A!"

"_One, two, three,_

_Four, five, six, seven,_

_All these Angels from The Heavens._

_Seven, six, five,_

_Four, three, two, one,_

_The Sins are here, so let's have some fun."_

"What was that?" Arlina asked, a little frightened.

"That…." Rhebpi said, looking around frantically, "That was bad…really, really bad."

Suddenly a giant fireball shot out of the lava below, straight at Rhebpi, who managed to block it with his shield.

"Arlina, stay beside me at all times!" Rhebpi exclaimed. "We're in for a rough ride."

Arlina gripped onto Rhebpi's right arm as fireballs shot at them from all directions. Rhebpi pressed a few buttons frantically on his shield, and it transformed into a nice bubble, surrounding himself and Arlina, that seemed to be impervious to the attacks directed at them.

The attacks didn't let up though. They kept coming, and they never slowed down. If anything, they sped up.

"Of course _he_ would be the first one to show up…" Rhebpi said as he tried to push the shield bubble along the air. "Given my mood, and given what I'm doing…"

"R…R this is creeping me out!" Arlina said.

"_Angel R is at our door,_

_Amgel R shall be no more."_

"Oh yeah?" Rhebpi shouted as he tried to parade the giant force field along. "You're doing a pretty lousy job of it so far!" He mocked.

"Well, don't make him angrier!" Arlina said. "I'd prefer it if that didn't happen."

"_Silly Angel R…" _The voice said.

"_You should listen to her,_

_For Hell hath no fury,_

_Compared to Anger!"_

And as if on cue, out of the lava shot a giant. He looked human in every way, except his head was a bald, red, mess, that looked disgustingly angry. He had two horns sticking out of the head, and a long tail with an arrow tip at the end of it.

"He can't get any angrier." Rhebpi told Arlina, as the demon approached them. "Because he _is_ Anger!"

Anger charged at Rhebpi and Arlina, but the force field kept him at bay. "Get out of that thing and fight the fair fight!" Anger urged Rhebpi.

"I don't want to fight." Rhebpi said bluntly. "I spent so much time fighting recently, I'd rather just you sit there in agony, trying in vainly to destroy this force field."

"Oh, I see, the Angel's too scared to get out and face me like a man is he?"

"I'm not a man. I'm an Angel."

"Well, that certainly didn't stop that _other_ Angel from trying to defeat me. Let me tell you, _she_ was in a force field like that one too, but _she_ came out and fought me. Too bad my brothers and sister showed up to kidnap her! I wonder what torture she's going through right now…"

"Llydinia!" Rhebpi yield outwards. He jetted out of the force field, and shot an arrow at Anger.

"What have you done with her?!"

"Ah…It seems we're finally getting somewhere!" Anger said as he raised his palm and shot a flurry of twenty, maybe twenty five fireballs at Rhebpi.

Rhebpi quickly dodged each fireball.

"Ooh, you're an agile one….much like that Posvid fellow, now _he_ was a real treat! I beat him like a drum!"

"Where is he?" Rhebpi yelled as he shot three arrows at once, each one of them hitting Anger in the chest.

"Oh, I'm not quite sure…" Anger said as he picked the arrows out of his torso like it was nothing. "But my guess is that Marideath is using him for ransom! Just imagine! The Double A's mightiest! Falling to the hands of no more than a single Sin!"

"R, don't let him get to you, he's trying to make you angry!" Arlina shouted from the force field.

Rhebpi stared at Anger for a while, and Anger shot a fireball that hit him square in the chest.

Rhebpi was looking down at the ground panting heavily. "It's too late Arlina." He said. "He's made me…_very_ angry…" Rhebpi looked up, his eyes were pure white, his wings were glowing brightly. He flew up, and poised an arrow at Anger. "And _that_ was his big mistake."


	18. 2-8

**Earth's Core: Time Jumbled**

"What's…What's happening?" Arlina asked as Rhebpi flew at Anger, who just nearly dodged a blow from his shortsword.

"You can use an Angel's anger all you want, it won't help you any!" Anger taunted as he shot fireball after fireball at Rhebpi.

"That's where you're wrong." Rhebpi said. "Because in addition to making me a match for you…" He started. "It also sends a signal out…"

"To whom?" Anger looked at him quizzingly until another Angel tackled him and pushed him into the lava.

"To _me_!" The Angel said, looking at the demon melting in the lava.

"S….S!" Arlina couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"R…Arlina…It's been quite a while!" The middle-aged Angel said turning his head.

"It certainly has!" Rhebpi said laughing and calming down. He held out his right arm, and the force field that Arlina was in disintegrated into Rhebpi's time shield as it flew back to his hand. Arlina flew toward the other Angel with a tackle hug.

"Socrates!" she cheered.

The Angel

2.8

"So you're looking for Llydinia eh?" He asked after Rhebpi had brought him up to speed on what had happened.

"Yes. That's correct." Rhebpi said. "ASAP, preferably."

"You never were one to wait, were you?" Socrates smiled.

"C'mon, let's go, chop-chop!" Rhebpi said with a widening grin. "Any ideas on where she might be?"

"I'd say from the sound of things that the Sins are holding her."

"And we've already gotten rid of one of them!" Arlina said. "Which leaves six!"

"Six guards for one Angel." Rhebpi winked. "Seems about right."

"Chances are high that she's being held by Pride, the root of all sin. And the five other sins will probably be guarding the caverns leading to where Pride is." Socrates continued. "You two go do that, and I'll see if I can find any other Angels that might still be avoiding capture. After that we should all meet up here and make our way towards Queen Marideath's chamber, at which point-"

Socrates was cut off by a slow clapping. "Brilliant work Socrates. Brilliant work." Julus said as he appeared behind everyone. "Exactly the plan I saw in my vision." He turned to Rhebpi. "Angel R…Here we are…Enjoy your last moments."

"He seems so sure of himself…" Arlina said. "R…maybe you should go back to The Heavens…you know, just in case…"

"I'm not going to leave Llydinia or the Angel Army behind."

"R…with all do respect…after you do free all of them, you probably _should_ leave." Julus said

Rhebpi looked at Julus. "Did…you…did you just try to…_help_ me?"

The word help seemed to hit Julus hard as he lurched over and pulled his hands up to his head. "Ahhh!" He screamed. "The head! The headache! No! No! Ahhh!" He shouted as he ran off.

"Anyways…" Rhebpi said. "Only after I know _everyone_ is safe, will I retreat from this battle." He told Arlina and Socrates. "I helped make this mess, so I intend to fix it."

"Understood." Socrates said. "Then let's begin our plan. Good luck with the Sins!" he said as he flew off.

"Alright." Rhebpi said with a sigh, beginning to walk down a corridor. "Andale Arlina, the Sins await."

Arlina didn't move.

"Arlina, come on! Let's go!"

Arlina stood still. "Are they…_all_ going to be as big as Anger was?"

Rhebpi gave it some thought. "Some will be bigger, but most won't." He put his hand on Arlina's shoulder. "Arlina, look up at me."

"Yes?" She said looking up. "The Sins _will_ look big, and powerful, and nigh impossible to stop, but that's all it is! Looks! In reality they're just six more demons that I've dealt with before."

"Alright." Arlina said with a smile. "Let's go."

**Room of Envy**

"There's no one in here…" Arlina said as she and Rhebpi looked around the big empty room.

"Well, there's a 1 character lock on the door, and a riddle…" Rhebpi said.

_If one wants to get through this door,_

_It could take quite some time._

_What's mine is mine, but what's mine can be yours._

_If all of yours becomes mine,_

"Oh, that's an easy one." Rhebpi said as he pressed the key with the asterisk on it.

ACCESS GRANTED

"How did you know?"

"Well, an asterisk is meant to be a foot note, or to clarify things, and in some cases, to correct something that the user feels is incorrect. Out of any characters, it poses the most similarities to that on envy."

Arlina shrugged and followed Rhebpi into the next room.

"There is waayyy too much stuff in here…" Arlina said as she and Rhebpi waded through the junk as well as some rather valuable pieces of cash and gems and arrived at another door. This time with a lock and a full keypad.

"This is clearly Greed's room." Rhebpi said.

**Greed's Room**

_A car with three wheels,_

_A horse who runs faster than light,_

_The rarest flower on the planet,_

_A solid $20 bill,_

_What are they?_

"Again…" Rhebpi said. "This riddle crud is way too easy…"

"But that riddle makes no sense at all!" Arlina complained.

"It makes perfect sense when you remember who made it!" Rhebpi responded as he typed in the word "mine."

ACCESS GRANTED

"I just hope there isn't another riddle in the next room."

**Gluttony's Room**

Gluttony was actually in the room, unlike the first two remaining Sins.

"Ahh…Angel R, and his little companion, please, sit down!" He gestured to two empty chairs beside him at a long table, full of delicious foods.

"What's all this?" Arlina asked.

"Why it's my lunch!" Gluttony replied. "But eating it alone would be oh so very dull." He patted the chairs. "Please, join me."

Rhebpi and Arlina just stood.

"Join me!" He said again as he grabbed a chicken. Not a chicken leg, a whole chicken, and ate all the meat off of the skeleton in less than 15 seconds. Arms of food reached out from the table and fastened Rhebpi and Arlina to their seats.

Arlina looked at Rhebpi, who winked. "I got this!" He mouthed.

Arlina rolled her eyes and looked across the table.

"That's quite a lot of food…" Rhebpi said.

"Oh, absolutely!" Gluttony agreed. "Every food known to mankind is on this table!"

"Oh?" Arlina asked, picking up on Rhebpi's plan. "Which food is your favorite?"

"Oh, well I just love the chicken…" Gluttony said as he took some chicken.

"Roasted….Pan seared….. Stir fried….. deep fried…" Rhebpi trailed on for him

"Yes!" Gluttony said. "Oh yes!" As he took chicken after chicken after chicken. "The Roasted Chicken!...The pan seared chicken!...The charcoal grilled chicken!...The stir fried chicken!...deep fried chick-oguhgugugha"

"What's he doing?" Arlina asked as the food binding her and Rhebpi to their chairs fell to the floor as though it had suddenly died.

"He's choking." Rhebpi said. "If you eat too much, too fast, you choke. That goes for anyone."

"Is there a lock on this door?"

"An easy one." Rhebpi said again as he typed in the word 'food'.

ACCESS GRANTED

**Sloth's Room**

Sloth _was_ in his room, but he was just…sitting there…on the floor doing nothing.

"Um…excuse me, do you know the code to the lock on that door over there?" Rhebpi asked.

"My friend and I…we'd like to know." Arlina added.

"That door doesn't have a lock." Sloth said.

"But I see the lock there, plain as day!" Rhebpi said pointing.

Sloth looked up over at the door. "….huh…So it does." He said. "Try the default code."

Rhebpi and Arlina looked at each other, shrugged, and walked up to the lock on the door.

"Alright." Rhebpi said. "Default code coming up….0000."

ACCESS DENIED

"00000"

ACCESS DENIED

"R…this is Sloth…let me handle this." Arlina said as she simply pressed the Enter key without punching any characters.

ACCESS GRANTED

Arlina gave Rhebpi one of his own winks.

"Oh shut up." He said as they trailed into the next room.

**Lust's Room**

The room was lit rather intimately, and was surrounded by scented candles. In the middle of the room was a couch, a tub, a table with chairs, and a bed.

"It smells _heavenly_ in here!" Rhebpi said as he closed his eyes and wafted the scent.

Arlina walked over to the door to Pride's room, which allegedly held Llydinia, and looked at the lockpad riddle.

_The way to open this door is the oldest way in the book._

_The answers somewhere in the room you know,_

_So why don't you have a look?_

"Apparently the answer to how to open the door is in this room somewhere!" Arlina called, yet as she did, the door to Pride's room opened and she felt a giant hand pull her in.

Rhebpi opened his eyes when he heard the door slam.

"Arlina?" He asked.

"Oh of course I can be her…" A soothing voice said. And out of a corner of the room walked what looked just like Arlina, only…different.

"Arlina?" Rhebpi asked

"Sure…" she said smiling as she walked toward him soon they were too close for Rhebpi's comfort and he backed away.

"You aren't Arlina…" Rhebpi backed up.

"What's wrong?" the girl pouted. "I wore this just for you!" She was barely dressed, whoever she was. "Do you not like her? How about…" She shape shifted into Llydinia. "Me? You like me don't you R?" She asked as she got closer.

"I…I…I need the key to the door!" Rhebpi said, making an effort to stay away from the shifter. "That's where you're- I mean, where _Llydinia_'s trapped!"

"I do suppose your right…" The girl said as she trapped Rhebpi in a corner and shifted into Myra. "Why don't we look for it together?" She enticed as she grabbed Rhebpi by the hand. He pulled it back quickly. "Oh come on…come on…" She enticed as she gently took his hand again and slowly led him to the bed.

"This is bad…" Rhebpi said. "This isn't good at all…"

"We're only looking or the key…" The girl said as she changed into the last person Rhebpi expected.

"Emily?"

"If you want." The girl touched his nose and laid him down on the bed and stuck out her tongue.

"That's the key?" Rhebpi asked. "Your tongue piercing?"

"Oh yes it is…" the girl said. "Go on…" She leaned in close to Rhebpi. "Take it off my hands for me."

Rhebpi tried to move his arms but she had them pinned to the bed. "I…can't move my hands!"

"Then you'll have to find another way…" she said as she leaned in intimately close to Rhebpi.

Rhebpi gulped. "I have to do this, don't I?"

She nodded.

"But you're a-"

He was cut off because the girl pressed her mouth against his. Rhebpi pulled back instantly.

"No!" He said. "No I will _not_ stand to kiss a _demon_! Let alone a _Sin_!"

"Well, the .2 seconds of it was rather enjoyable I think…" Lust said as she sat up, still in Emily's shape. "You really know how to use-"

"Don't start!" Rhebpi said as he spit out a small key into the palm of his hand. " That is _not_ something I'm proud of!" He quickly ran to the door, inserted the key in the lock, and charged into Pride's room.

**Pride's Room**

"R!"

"R!"

"Llydinia! Arlina!" Rhebpi said as he saw both Llydinia and Arlina in a jail cell at the back of the room.

"Angel R!" Pride said as he walked to the center of the room to meet him.

"Pride…" Rhebpi said. "The root of all sin…"

"You've really got me in a pickle you know…" Pride said. "Should I avenge the two brothers of mine you killed, or should I reward you for _your_ pride and give you your companions?... Decisions, decisions…"

"I like the second option. You'd really do that?"

"Of course!" Pride said. "We told you that we were here to have fun! Now we've had enough. You aren't worth our _entire_ attention!"

Pride snapped his fingers and disappeared.

"R!" Arlina screamed as she tackle hugged him similar to the way she hugged Socrates a while earlier.

"Thank you!" Llydinia nodded as she walked out of the cell. "But we don't have much time left! Look!" She held out her time shield and showed them a disturbing picture…

"That's a purple mass of destruction the size of Jupiter, right where Earth should be! It's already getting little bits of The Heavens!"

"Then we need to stop Marideath, like, right now!" Rhebpi said. "Grab on everyone!"

Everyone grabbed Rhebpi as he pressed the button in the center of his time shield and instantly they were in Marideath's chamber. Hiptania was imprisoned on the right of her, Posvid on the left.

"Marideath! You are not getting away with this!" Rhebpi said as Socrates joined up with them along with 14 Angel Army scouts.

"My dear Angel R…." Marideath smiled as she stood, unsheathed her sword, and raised her arm. As if on cue, over 2000 demons rose out of the ground and surrounded the 18 of them. Each demon was huge. The exact size of Gluttony. "My dear, hopeless, Angel R…" Marideath said again. "I believe I just did."


	19. 2-9

The Angel

2.9

**Earth's Core: Marideath's Chamer. Time: Jumbled.**

"This does not look good…" Rhebpi said to Arlina. "This looks rather bad…" He said as demons began to march toward the 18 of them from all directions.

"zzz…It's not as bad as you think!" Myra's voice came from Rhebpi's shield.

"Myra! Oh Crodia's grace it's a miracle!" Rhebpi cheered.

Arlina perked her head up. "A miracle…" she said, remembering what she was actually doing there.

"Alright Myra, you're getting 16 guest up at The Heavens! I'm sending Arlina and the Double A troops up, Llydinia and I will take care of this!"

"No!" Arlina protested. "I'm only here to perform a miracle that has _something_ to do with you!"

"Fair enough." Myra said through the shield. Llydinia nodded.

"I'll make sure the destruction stays away from most of the Heavens." She said.

R slammed the button on his shield, grabbed Arlina, and flew up. Just as demons pounced on the 16 other Angels, they all teleported to The Heavens.

"Alright… it's 2000, against 2…" Rhebpi said.

"4." Arlina corrected, pointing at Posvid and Hiptania. As she pointed, she drew patterns with her finger. The glass holding the two angels started to melt.

"Y-you can do that?" Rhebpi asked, astonished.

"Only when it's miraculous." Arlina beamed.

Posvid and Hiptania flew in the air and instantly joined Rhebpi and Arlina.

"So, we're outnumbered 500 to 1…" Hiptania said. "Seems a little less even than the Big Bang battle…"

"Yeah, maybe a tiny bit." Rhebpi said.

"Enough banter!" Marideath said. "Demons! You know what to do. Eliminate that Angel!" She pointed at Rhebpi.

All the demons faced Rhebpi, but they didn't attack just yet, instead, they built up fireballs, each one colliding with another and becoming bigger. Posvid and Hiptania used their bows and arrows to try and kill the demons, but there were just too many demons present for 2 to 3 Angels to do any damage.

"R! You've got to get out of the way!" Arlina said.

"R! Do what Arlina says!" Myra pleaded through the time shield. "A blast that big will knock you back straight into the lava, time shield or not, and if you burn up, Crodia won't have any flesh to revive! You'd die for good!"

Rhebpi turned to face Arlina. "I'm sorry Arlina, but I have this idea, I need to use the shield for it, and I need to do it at the exact same momentum as their giant fireball. Even if it means dying."

"Fire now!" Marideath said.

Rhebpi started to fly straight into the attacking fireball as it hurled toward him.

"R no!" Arlina flew toward him as he collided with the fireball, his shield was pressed against it, static flying everywhere, the forces would sent both objects hurtling back the way they came soon.

"Arlina!" Rhebpi shouted over his shoulder. "Arlina…Stay Back!"

Arlina halted and ducked, and at once, the fireball and Rhebpi went back to where they came from, the fireball hitting most of the demons, and killing them, and Rhebpi was tossed through the air until he hit the rock walls. You could hear the impact breaking all his bones, his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he fell off of the wall, and face first, dove into the lava. His shield remained on the ground where the collision had taken place.

"R!" Hiptania shouted as she grabbed Marideath's hands and bounded them.

"What happened?!" Posvid asked as he bound up Dotanos, captain of Marideath's guard. They were the only two alive demons counted for. Julus was never seen in the room, and was presumed to be still alive, but not a threat.

"R! R!" Myra called through the shield. "Oh, R! Why did you have to do that?"

Arlina walked toward the shield and picked it up. She studied the triangular device that fit ever so nicely on her right elbow. Then she looked into the lava.

"A miracle…" She whispered to herself.

"You're not going to stop us!" Dotanos said as he and Marideath broke both their bonds and knocked Posvid and Hiptania unconciouus.

Arlina smiled as she held the time shield over the edge of the cliff overlooking where Rhebpi fell into the lava.

"Look at how stupid that girl is!" Marideath joked. "She's about to throw the one shield that can save her into lava! The destruction of Earth will be on her hands!"

"Oh really?" Arlina chimed. She started to speed up her talking. "Because remember who this shield belongs to. Remember who it _has_ belonged to since the beginning of time. Now realize that this shield, is nigh indestructible and last I was aware, lava wasn't enough to stop it. Imagine that shield recognizing bits and pieces of the molecules that made up its owner in that lava. This shield is programmed to protect Angel R. I've seen it do a great many things, and with all this destruction and jumbled time-space around here, it has more than enough energy to do even more unthinkable things! Get ready Marideath and Dotanos, because _this_ angel is about to perform her miracle!"

Arlina tossed the time shield into the lava like a Frisbee. As the shield splashed into the lava, all the purple aura of destruction imploded into the center of the shield, incredibly fast.

"It's out of the Heavens!" Myra's voice said through the speakers that were not yet engulfed in lava.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?" Marideath was furious. She and Dotanos both charged at Arlina who dodged out of the way, but when she landed near Marideath's throne a third glass container shot up and surrounded her.

"Uh-oh."

"I hope you had a fun run angel…" Dotanos said as he and Marideath approached the glass container. "But it's time you-"

He stopped suddenly. The purple aura of destruction had stopped flowing into the time shield, and there was a moment of complete and udder silence, but it was short lived because almost as instantly and as without warning as it stopped, a yellow aura started to expel back out of the lava and traveled faster than the purple went in. Two pillars of lava began shoot up making it actually rain lava, which burned Marideath and Dotanos, but Arlina was kept safe in her container by what was most likely her own working of miracles.

"What is that?" Dotanos asked about the yellow aura.

"That, would happen to be restoration energy!" Arlina said. "And guess who's caught in the heart of that powerful burst!"  
As soon as she said that, Two more lava pillars rose up, on the other side of the room so there was one pillar in each corner, then the ground in the dead center started to rumble before finally breaking apart as not a pillar, but a geyser of lava spewed through it. In the middle of the geyser was a bright yellow light. The geyser sank back down, and Arlina could make out Rhebpi's body in the white light. He grew about 3 inches taller, and then his hair started to change shape. It was no longer straight, yellow blonde hair. It started to accumulate on the top of his head, and darken, he now had an either extremely dirty blonde, or golden brown hair color, and his hair do was all a curly poof at the top of his head which looked wild, and untame-able, and finally, he now had sideburns that reached 2 thirds of the way down his ears. His eye color changed from hazel to a stormy blue, and finally, the light started to go away, and he landed on the ground, but rather than addressing his sudden change of appearance, or even his unexplained reincarnation, the first thing he did, was use his shield to send the two stunned demons back to what Arlina could only assume to be Tartarus. Then he began to run around frantically exploring himself.

"Oh no freaking way! I've got curls now? That's just incredible!" His voice was deeper than before. He also seemed a little more muscular than his previous incarnation, and he noticed it too, as he began to squeeze his arms and legs.

"I'm not as bony! Ooh, wait, what's my hair color?" He pulled down a curl of his brown-ish hair.

"Aww!" He said. "I wanted to be a ginger! Oh, that's right!" He ran up to Arlina, and unlocked the glass container. "Any freckles on my face?" he asked.

"Angel R…"

"Oh yes!" He said as he spread his white, now Falcon, wings. He looked back at them. "Oh wow, I've got Falcon wings now, that's cool ay? Falcons are pretty cool!"

"Angel R…"

"Yes I am!" He said to Arlina proudly.

"You're naked…"

Rhebpi looked down. "Yes I am." He said.

"Alright then, let's get you to a place we can find you come clothes…" Arlina said as she pressed the button on his time shield.

**Culver City 2013**

Rhebpi walked out of the clothing store. He was wearing a pink golf shirt as well as cargo shorts, but the most drastic change in attire was that now, on his head, he sported a hat that resembled a fedora.

"You look…absolutely different." Arlina said.

"Really?" He asked sarcastically. "This is what I was wearing this morning, Arlina come on!"

"Let's go?" She asked.

"No…no I need a new thing to say…" Rhebpi said as they strolled down the street.

"R…I…I'm sorry, but I have to leave." Arlina said.

"W…What? Why?"

"I'm done. I've performed my miracle. Here you are, still in existence, so now I'm being called back to Heaven. _My _Heaven."

Rhebpi sighed as his hat fell over his eyes. "I understand…" He said. He placed his hat back up and looked Arlina in the eyes. "Thank you Arlina. Perhaps one day, we'll meet again."

"You're quite welcome." Arlina said as she began to disappear. "But it was Myra contacting through the shield that even let me remember what I was there for! She's technically the one you should be thanking!"

"Well, thank you then Myra!" Rhebpi said into his shield. "I guess I'm lucky I'm on your good side huh?"

"Oh you have no idea haha." Myra joked.

"Good bye Angel R!" Arlina said as she finally disappeared completely. "Remember your friends in high places!"

"Good bye, Arlina." Rhebpi said as he lifted his hand like a glass for a toast. "A+."

"R." Crodia's voice came through the shield. "I've got some good news. Get back to The Heavens as soon as you can."

**The Heavens**

"I am back!" Rhebpi said as he entered through the Deporter doors.

"Great News R!" Crodia said. "And don't worry, I still will regenerate you when you die, whether you take this offer or not."

"Interesting…" Rhebpi said, intrigued. He took out a strange pen, and adjusted his hat with it.

"What's that?" Myra asked as she walked over.

Rhebpi clicked the pen, and suddenly it expanded and hooked a thread from one end to the other end. "It's my bow…" he said. He flicked the bow and it reverted back into the strange pen. "It can also tell me what something I don't know is."

"All that aside." Crodia said. "Posvid and Hiptania are here to see you."

"Angel R!" Posvid said, shaking his hand. "Alive again!"

"Oh I am so sorry!" Rhebpi said as he took off his hat, showcasing his untame-able curly hair. "I forgot to get you guys out of the center of the Earth!"

"No it's ok R." Hiptania said. Llydinia came and got us.

"Besides we're here on behalf of The Council." Posvid said.

"You have now saved the universe, not once, but twice." Hiptania continued. "And so it is with great honor and pride that the Council appoints you, Angel R, the Head of the Council of Angels and Commander of the Double A."

Rhebpi's face although covered by his hands, maintained a stunned look of disbelief.

"Of course, this would take up all your free time R." Crodia said. "Don't worry. We'll give you some time to think about the offer. Come back to us when you have an answer." Hiptania, Crodia, and Posvid left so that just Rhebpi and Myra were still present in the Deporter room.

"Wow." Myra said. "That must be a well-paying job huh?"

"No. No it isn't." Rhebpi said. "Angels don't make money, they just do duties. And the thing about that duty…is that it's the most cowardly position any Angel could take. You don't do anything yourself. You have advisors, so it isn't decision making. Your life is valued and guarded, plus you have the Double A at your command, so you don't fight for justice, you just tell others to. And then there's the worst part…you take all the credit for the hard work everyone else does."

"Oh…" Myra said. "I'm sorry, I didn't hey!" What the heck are you doing with the Deporter?"

Rhebpi was fiddling around the base of the machine. "I'm deporting it from the floor. I'm going to take it for a spin."

"Yeah, you're going to single-handedly fly the Deporter."

Rhebpi looked straight at Myra. "That's how I got it here."

"When are you going to come back? When you've made a decision?"

"I have made a decision. I'm not going to come back. Well, not willingly at the very least."

"Well…"Myra said. "Where do you think you're going to go?"

"I'm going anywhere that isn't here…you did just save my life…well lives, is there anywhere in particular you'd like to go?"

"I'm not sure R…" Myra said. Rhebpi shrugged and went to the Deporter. "R, Wait!" Myra said as she ran inside after him, and to her amazement saw that the Deporter was far bigger on the inside than it was on the outside. "Oh my gods…it's bigger on the inside!" She said.

"I know, it's shocking…" Rhebpi said as he set his hat on a coatrack, fixed his golf shirt collar, and fit his shield into the Deporter control panel.

"The time shield…the most powerful shield in the universe…is a _car key_?" Myra asked in disbelief.

"Hey!" Rhebpi pointed. "Don't disrespect the car key!... Now, where do you want to go? We have all of time, and all of space. We can go to WW1, or we can go to Venus, that's always a pleasure, we could hit up New Earth, Oh! New York! Not the city or state, but the solar system: New York! A bit small for my tastes, but it's a great tourist attraction. Any of these grab your attention?"

"I want to go somewhere where practicing magic is seen as a good thing." Myra said.

"Ah, Planet X0037! Excellent choice!" Rhebpi said as he slammed down on his shield's button and the deporter began to shake. Rhebpi began to run around the control panel, fidgeting with various features.

"Is it always this hard to drive?" Myra asked as she braced herself on the coat rack.

"I'm sorry, by hard, did you mean _fun_?" Rhebpi smirked as he continued to run around. Soon, the Deporter landed, and the doors opened to reveal a mountainous terrain and architecture that resembled that of the Incas in pre- European Peru. "Planet X0037!" He said as he took in a giant whiff of air. He turned toward Myra, who was getting out of the Deporter. "This is home to the most advanced spells and sorcerers and sorceresses of all time."

"Oh my goodness!" Myra exclaimed as she observed the humbleness of the allegedly advanced planet. "Where do we go?"

"Anywhere!" Rhebpi said. "Just about everywhere on this planet, in terms of magic, is…" He looked up at the sky, smiled and used his pen to tip his hat. "Incredible!" He said.

**Angel R will return with Season 3**


End file.
